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COFKRIGHT DEPOSIT. 



THE 



DUCHESS OF PADUA 



A PLA Y 



BY 



OSCAR WILDE 



THE DUCHESS OF PADUA 




THE 

DUCHESS OF PADUA 



A PLAY 



BY 



OSCAR WILDE 



PAUL R. REYNOLDS 
NEW YORK 






) tiiOMRY of CONGRESS 
Vwo 0'ioies Received 

SEP g? ISOf 

. Copyright Entry 



\s 



CLASS ,4 XXc, No. 

copy e. 



Copyright 1907 



BY 

Methuen & Co. 



NOTE 

The Duchess of Padua was written in 1882, and finished in 
March, 1883. It was produced in New York on November 14, 
1891, at Hammerstein's Opera House. Twenty prompt copies 
were printed for private circulation and use in the theatre. One 
of only two copies known to exist contains the author's correc- 
tions, and on it the present edition is based. Certain passages 
were found to have been bracketed, or deleted in pencil. 
Whether these passages were omitted for stage presentation, or 
were intended to be omitted by the author altogether, there is 
no evidence to show. They have, however, been retaind in 
the present edition, and are indicated by brackets. The original 
manuscript was stolen, with other unpublished works, from 
the author's house in April, 1895. The play has been translated 
by Dr. Max Meyerfeld (Egon, Fleischel and Co., Berlin, 1904). 
An unauthorised English prose translation from the German 
has been printed in Paris, London, or America, and is offered 
for sale by unscrupulous publishers and unscrupulous book- 
sellers along with other spurious works ascribed to Oscar 
Wilde. The dramatic rights for America belong to the 
representatives of Miss Gale and the late Laurence Barrett. 
The dramatic rights for England, the Colonies, and 
the Continent are vested in the author's 
literary executor, and administrator of 
his estate, Robert Ross. 



TO 

A. S. 

Madam, 

A few months before his death Mr. Oscar 
Wilde expressed to me a regret that he had never dedi • 
cated any of his works to one from whom he had received 
such infinite kindness and to whom he was under obligations 
no flattering dedication could repay. With not very great 
sincerity, because I knew he was a dying man, I suggested 
he might still write a play or book which you would accept. 
He answered with truth, 'There is nothing but The Duchess 
of Padua and it is unworthy of her and unworthy of me ' 
With all his egoism and self-complacency you will know, 
perhaps as well as I do, that he never regarded his works as 
an adequate expression of his extraordinary genius and his 
magnificent intellectual endowment; many people hardly be- 
lieve that in his last years he was the severest critic of his 
own achievements. In the pages of De Profundis there are 
many references to yourself, and I think I am carrying out 
my dear friend's wishes in asking your acceptance of a play 
which was the prelude to a singularly brilliant and, if th° 
last five years are omitted, a very happy life. 

ROBERT ROSS 

Xmas, 1906. 



NOTE ON THE LENGTH 
OF THIS PLAY 



The Play of The Duchess of Padua is about 2600 
lines long, divided into the following proportions 
nearly : — 



Act I. 
Act II. 
Act III. 
Act IV. 
Act V. 



443 
642 
510 
564 
443 



lines, 
lines, 
lines, 
lines, 
lines. 



I estimate the acting time of the play at two hours 
and twenty-five minutes, in the following proportions 
nearly : — 



Act. I. . 


25 minutes. 


Act II. . 


36 minutes. 


Act III. . 


29 minutes. 


Act IV. . 


31 minutes. 


Act V. . 


25 minutes. 



o. w. 



ACT I 

SCENE 

The Market Place of Padua at npon; in the background is 
the great Cathedral of Padua; the architecture is Roman- 
esque, and wrought in black and white marbles; a flight of 
marble steps leads up to the Cathedral door; at the foot of the 
steps are two large stone lions; the houses on each side of the 
stage have coloured awnings from their windows, and are 
flanked by stone arcades; on the right of the stage is the 
public fountain, with a triton in green bronze blowing from a 
conch; around the fountain is a stone seat; the bell of the 
Cathedral is ringing, and the citizens, men, women and 
children, are passing into the Cathedral. 

(E titer guido ferranti and ascanio cristo- 

FANO. ) 
ASCANIO 

Now by my life, Guido, I will go no farther ; 
for if I walk another step I will have no 
life left to swear by; this wild-goose errand 
of yours ! 

(Sits down on the steps of the fountain.) 

1 



THE DUCHESS OF PADUA 

ACT I. GUIDO 

I think it must be here. (Goes up to passer- 
by and doffs Ms cap.) Pray, sir is this the 
market place, and that the church of Santa 
Croce? (Citizen bows.) I thank you, sir. 

ASCANTO 

Well? 

GUIDO 

Ay! it is here. 

ASCANIO 

T would it were somewhere else, for I see no 
wine-shop. 

GUIDO 

(Taking a letter from his pocket and reading 
it.) 'The hour noon; the city, Padua; the 
place, the market; and the day, Saint Philip's 
Day.' 

ASCANIO 

And what of the man, how shall we know 
him? 

guido (reading still) 

1 1 ' will wear a violet cloak with a silver 
2 



THE DUCHESS OF PADUA 

falcon broidered on the shoulder. ' A brave act i. 
attire, Ascanio. 



ASCANIO 

I'd sooner have my leathern jerkin. And 
yon think he will tell you of your father? 

GU1DO 

Why, yes ! It is a month ago now, you re- 
member; I was in the vineyard, just at the 
corner nearest the road, where the goats used 
to get in, a man rode up and asked me was my 
name Guido, and gave me this letter, signed 
'Your Father's Friend,' bidding me be here 
to-day if I would know the secret of my birth, 
and telling me how to recognise the writer! 
I had always thought old Pedro was my uncle, 
but he told me that he was not, but that I had 
been left a child in his charge by some one he 
had never since seen. 



ASCANIO 

And you don't know who your father is 

GUIDO 

No. 



THE DUCHESS OF PADUA 

ACT I. ASCANIO 

No recollection of him even? 



GU1DO 

None, Ascanio, none. 

ascanio {laughing) 

Then he could never have boxed your ears 
so often as my father did mine. 

guido {smiling) 

I am sure you never deserved it. 



ASCANIO 

Never; and that made it worse. I hadn't 
the consciousness of guilt to buoy me up. 
What hour did you say he fixed? 

GUIDO 

Noon. {Clock in the Cathedral strikes.) 

ASCANIO 

It is that now, and your man has not come. 
I don't believe in him, Guido. I think it is 
some wench who has set her eye at you; and, 
as I have followed you from Perugia to Padua, 
I r<wear you shall follow me to the nearest 
4 



Gentlemen of the Duke's 
Household 



THE PERSONS OF THE PLAY 

SIMONE GESSO, Duke of Padua 

BEATRICE, his Wife 

ANDREAS POLLAJUOLO, Cardinal of Padua 

MAFFIO PETRUCCI, 

JEPPO VITELLOZZO, 

TADDEO BARDI, 

GUIDO FERRANTI, a Young Man 

ASCANIO CRISTOFANO, his Friend 

COUNT MORANZONE, an Old Man 

BERNARDO CAVALCANTI, Lord Justice of Padua 

HUGO, The Headsman 

LUCY, a Tire woman 

Seivants, Citizens, Soldiers, Monks, Falconers with 
their hawks and dogs, etc. 



Place : Padua 

Time : The latter half of Sixteenth Century 



THE SCENES OF THE PLAY 

Act I. The market Place of Padua (25 minutes). 

Act II. Room in the Duke's Palace (36 minutes). 

Act III. Corridor in the Duke's Palace (29 minutes). 

Act IV. The Hall of Justice (31 minutes). 

Act V. The Dungeon (25 minutes). 



Style of Architecture: Italian, Gothic, and Romanesque. 



ACT I 



THE DUCHESS OF PADUA 

tavern. (Rises.) By the great gods of eating, aoti. 
Guido, I am as hungry as a widow is for a 
husband, as tired as a young maid is of good 
advice, and as dry as a monk's sermon. Come, 
Guido, you stand there looking at nothing, 
like the fool who tried to look into his own 
mind; your man will not come. 

GUIDO 

Well, I suppose you are right. Ah! (Just 
as he is leaving the stage with ascanio, enter 
lord moeanzone in a violet cloak, with a sil- 
ver falcon broidered on the shoulder; he passes 
across to the Cathedral, and just as he is going 
in guido runs up and touches him.) 

MORANZONE 

Guido Ferranti, thou hast come in time. 

GUIDO 

What! Does my father live! 

MORANZONE 

Ay, lives in you. 
Thou art the same in mould and lineament, 
Carriage and form, and outward semblances ; 
I trust thou art in noble mind the same. 

5 



THE DUCHESS OF PADUA 

ACT I. GUIDO 

Oh, tell me of my father; I have lived 
But for this moment. 

MORANZONE 

We must be alone. 

GUIDO 

This is my dearest friend, who out of love 
Has followed me to Padua; as two brothers, 
There is no secret which we do not share. 



MORANZONE 

There is one secret which ye shall not share; 
Bid him go hence. 

GUIDO (to ASCANIO) 

Come back within the hour. 
He does not know that nothing in this world 
Can dim the perfect mirror of our love. 
Within the hour come. 

ASCANIO 

Speak not to him, 
There is a dreadful terror in his look. 

guido (laughing) 

Nay,' nay, I doubt not that he has come to tell, 
6 



THE' DUCHESS OF PADUA 

That I am some great Lord of Italy, act i. 

And we will have long days of joy together. 
Within the hour, dear Ascanio. 

(Exit ASCANIO.) 

Now tell me of my father? (Sits down on a 
stone seat.) Stood he tall? 

I warrant he looked tall upon his horse. 

His hair was black? or perhaps a reddish 
gold, 

Like a red fire of gold? Was his voice low? 

The very bravest men have voices some- 
times 

Full of low music ; or a clarion was it 

That brake with terror all his enemies? 

Did he ride singly? or with many squires 

And valiant gentlemen to serve his state? 

For oftentimes methinks I feel my veins 

Beat with the blood of kings. Was he a 
king? 



MOKANZONE 

Ay, of all men he was the kingliest. 



GciDo (proudly) 

Then when you saw my noble father last 

He was set high above the heads of men? 

7 



THE DUCHESS OF PADUA 

ACT I. MORANZONE 

Ay, he was high above the heads of men, 
(Walks over to guido and puts Ms hand upon 
his shoulder.) 
On a red scaffold, with a butcher's block 
Set for his neck. 

guido (leaping up) 

What dreadful man art thou, 
That like a raven, or the midnight owl, 
Com'st with this awful message from the 
grave 1 

MORANZONE 

I am known here as the Count Moranzone, 

Lord of a barren castle on a rock, 

With a few acres of unkindly land 

And six not thrifty servants. But I was one 

Of Parma's noblest princes; more than that, 

I was your father's friend. 

guido (clasping his hand) 

Tell me of him. 



MORANZONE 

You are the son of that great Duke Lorenzo, 
[Whose banner waved on many a well-fought 
field 



THE DUCHESS OF PADUA 

Against the Saracen, and heretic Turk,] acti. 

He was the Prince of Parma, and the Duke 

Of all the fair domains of Lombardy 

Down to the gates of Florence; nay, Florence 

even 
Was wont to pay him tribute 



GUIDO 

Come to his death. 



MOEANZONE 

You will hear that soon enough. Being at 

war — 
A noble lion of war, that would not suffer 
Injustive done in Italy! — he led - 
The very flower of chivalry against 
That foul adulterous Lord of Rimini, 
Giovanni Malatesta — whom God curse! 
And was by him in treacherous ambush 

taken, 
[And was by him in common fetters bound] 
And like a villain, or a low-born knave, 
Was by him on the public scaffold murdered. 



guido (clutching his dagger) 
Doth Malatesta live? 



THE DUCHESS OF PADUA 

ACT I. MORANZONE 

No, he is dead. 

GTJID0 

Did you say dead? too swift runner. 

Death, 
Couldst thou not wait for me a little space, 
And I had done thy bidding ! 

moranzone (clutching his wrist) 

Thou canst do it! 
The man who sold thy father is alive. 

GU1DO 

Sold! was my father sold! 

MORANZONE 

Ay! trafficked for, 
Like a vile chattel, for a price betrayed, 
Bartered and bargained for in privy market 
By one whom he had held his perfect friend, 
One he had trusted, one he had well loved, 

One whom by ties of kindness he had bound 

[Oh! to sow seeds of kindness in this world 
Is but to reap ingratitude!] 

GUIDO 

And he lives 
Who sold my father. 
10 



THE DUCHESS OF PADUA 

MORANZONE ACT I. 

I will bring you to him. 

GUIDO 

So; Judas, thou art living! well, I will make 
This world thy field of blood, so buy it 

straightway, 
For thou must hang there. 

MORANZONE 

Judas, said you, boy? 
Yes, Judas in his treachery, but still 
He was more wise than Judas was, and held 
Those thirty silver pieces not enough. 

GUIDO 

What got he for my father's blood? 

MORANZONE 

What got he? 
Why cities, fiefs, and principalities, 
Vineyards, and lands. 

GUIDO 

Of which he shall but keep 
Six feet of ground to rot in. Where is he, 
This damned villain, this foul devil? where? 
Show me the man, and come he cased in steel, 

11 



THE DUCHESS OF PADUA 

act i. In complete panoply and pride of war, 
Ay, guarded by a thousand men-at-arms, 
Yet I shall reach him through their spears, 

and feel 
The last black drop of blood from his black 

heart 
Crawl down my blade. Show me the man, I 

say, 
And I will kill him. 

MOKANZONE (coldly) 

Fool, what revenge is there? 
Death is the common heritage of all, 
And death comes best when it comes suddenly. 

(Goes up close to guido.) 
Thy father was betrayed, there is your cue; 
For you shall sell the seller in his turn. 
I will make you of his household, you will sit 
At the same board with him, eat of his 
bread 



GUIDO 

bitter bread ! 

MOKANZONE 

Your palate is too nice, 
Keyenge will make it sweet. Thou shalt o' 
nights 
12 



THE DUCHESS OF PADUA 

Pledge him in wine, drink from his cup, and be act i. 

His intimate, so he will fawn on thee, 

Love thee, and trnst thee in all secret 

things. 
If he bids thee be merry thou must laugh, 
And if it be his humour to be sad 
Thou shalt don sables. Then when the time 

is ripe (guido clutches his sword.) 

Nay, nay, I trust thee not; your hot young 

blood 
Undisciplined nature, and too violent rage 
Will never tarry for this great revenge, 
But wreck itself on passion. 



GUIDO 

Thou knowest me not. 
Tell me the man, and I in everything 
Will do thy bidding. 



MOEANZONE 

Well, when the time is ripe, 
The victim trusting and the occasion sure, 
I will by sudden secret messenger 
Send thee a sign. 



GUIDO 

How shall I kill him, tell me? 

13 



THE DUCHESS OF PADUA 

ACT I. MORANZONE 

That night thou shalt creep into his private 

chamber ; 
[That night remember.] 



GTJIDO 

[I shall not forget. J 



MORANZONE 

[I do not know if guilty people sleep,] 

But if he sleeps see that you wake him first, 

And hold your hand upon his throat, ay! that 

way, 
Then having told him of what blood you are, 
Sprung from what father, and for what 

revenge, 
Bid him to pray for mercy; when he prays, 
Bid him to set a price upon his life, 
And when he strips himself of all his gold 
Tell him thou needest not gold, and hast not 

mercy, 
And do thy business straight away. Swear 

to me 
You will not kill him till I bid you do it, 
Or e,lse I go to mine own house, and leave 
You ignorant, and your father unavenged. 

14 



THE DUCHESS OF PADUA 

GUIDO ACT I. 

Now by my father's sword 

MOKANZONE 

The common hangman 
Brake that in sunder in the public square. 

GUIDO 

Then by my father's grave 



MOKANZONE 

What grave? what grave! 
Your noble father lieth in no grave, 
I saw his dust strewn on the air, his ashes 
Whirled through the windy streets like com- 
mon straws 
To plague a beggar's eyesight, and his head, 
That gentle head, set on the prison spike, 
[Girt with the mockery of a paper crown] 
For the vile rabble in their insolence 
To shoot their tongues at. 



GUIDO 

Was it so indeed? 
Then by my father's spotless memory, 
And by the shameful manner of his death, 
And by the base betrayal by his friend, 

15 



THE DUCHESS OF PADUA 

act i. For these at least remain, by these I swear 
I will not lay my hand upon his life 
Until you bid me, then — God help his soul, 
For he shall die as never dog died yet. 
And now, the sign, what is it? 

MORANZONE 

This dagger, boy ; 
It was your father's. 

GUIDO 

0, let me look at it ! 
I do remember now my reputed uncle, 
That good old husbandman I left at home, 
Told me a cloak wrapped round me when a babe 
Bare too much yellow leopards wrought in gold ; 
I like them best in steel, as they are here, 
They suit my purpose better. Tell me, sir, 
Have you no message from my father to me"? 

MORANZONE 

Poor boy, you never saw that noble father, 
For when by his false friend he had been sold, 
Alone of all his gentlemen I escaped 
To bear the news to Parma to the Duchess. 

GUIDO 

[Speak to me of my mother.] 
16 



THE DUCHESS OF PADUA 

MORANZONE ACT I. 

When your mother, 
[Than whom no saint in heaven was more pure,] 
Heard my black news, she fell into a swoon, 
And, being with untimely travail seized — 
[Indeed, she was but seven months a bride — ] 
Bare thee into the world before thy time, 
And then her soul went heavenward, to wait 
Thy father, at the gates of Paradise. 



GUIDO 

A mother dead, a father sold and bartered! 
I seem to stand on some beleagured wall, 
And messenger comes after messenger 
With a new tale of terror; give me breath, 
Mine ears are tired. 



MORANZONE 

When thy mother died, 
Fearing our enemies, I gave it out 
Thou wert dead also, and then privily 
Conveyed thee to an ancient servitor, 
Who by Perugia lived; the rest thou knowest. 



GUIDO 

Saw you my father afterwards! 

17 



THE DUCHESS OF PADUA 

ACT I: MORANZONE 

Ay! once; 
In mean attire, like a vineyard dresser, 
I stole to Eimini. 

guido (taking his hand) 

generous heart ! 

MORANZONE 

One can buy everything in Eimini, 
And so I bought the goalers ! when your father 
Heard that a man child had been born to him, 
His noble face lit up beneath his helm 
Like a great fire seen far out at sea, 
And taking my two hands, he bade me, Guido, 
To rear you worthy of him, so I have reared you 
To revenge his death upon the friend who 
sold him. 

GUIDO 

Thou hast done well ; I for my father thank you. 
And now his name? 

MORANZONE 

How you remind me of him, 
You have each gesture that your father had. 

GUIDO 

The traitor's name? 
18 



THE DUCHESS OF PADUA 

MORANZONE ACT I. 

Thou wild hear that anon ; 
The Duke and other nobles at the Court 
Are coming hither. 

i 
Guroo 

What of that? his name? 

MORANZONE 

Do they not seem a valiant company 
Of honourable, honest gentlemen? 

GUIDO 

His name, milord? 

(Enter the duke of padua with count 
bardi, maffio, PETRucci, and other 
gentlemen of his Court.) 

moranzone (quickly) 

The man to whom I kneel 
Is he who sold your father ! mark me well. 

guido (clutches his dagger) 
The Duke! 

MORANZONE 

Leave off that fingering of thy knife. 
Hast thou so soon forgotten? 

(Kneels to the duke.) 
My noble Lord. 
19 



THE DUCHESS OF PADUA 

ACT I. DUKE 

Welcome, Count Moranzone; 'tis some time 
Since we have seen you here in Padua. 
We hunted near your castle yesterday — 
Call you it castle? that bleak house of yours 
Wherein you sit a-mumbling o'er your beads, 
Telling your vices like a good old man. 
[I trust I'll never be a good old man. 
God would grow weary if I told my sins.] 

(Catches sight of guido and starts back.) 
Who is that! 

MORANZONE 

My sister's son, your Grace 
Who being now of age to carry arms, 
Would for a season tarry at your Court. 

duke (still looking at guido) 
What is his name? 

MORANZONE 

Guido Ferranti, sir. 

DUKE 

His city? 

MORANZONE 

He is Mantuan by birth. 
20 ; 



THE DUCHESS OF PADUA 

duke (advancing towards guido) acti. 

You have the eyes of one I used to know, 
But he died childless [So, sir, you would serve 

me; 
Well, we lack soldiers;] are you honest, boy? 
Then be not spendthrift of your honesty, 
But keep it to yourself; in Padua 
Men think that honesty is ostentatious, so 
It is not of the fashion. Look at these lords 
[Smelling of civet and the pomander box.. . .] 

count bardi (aside) 

Here is some bitter arrow for us, sure. 

DUKE 

Why, every man among them has his price, 
Although, to do them justice, some of them 
Are quite expensive. 

count bardi (aside) 

There it comes indeed. 

DUKE 

So be not honest; eccentricity 
Is not a thing should ever be encouraged, 
Although, in this dull stupid age of ours, 
The most eccentric thing a man can do 

21 



THE DUCHESS OF PADUA 

act I. Is to have brains, then the mob mocks at him ; 
And for the mob, despise it as I do, 
I hold its bubble praise and windy favours 
In such account, that popularity 
Is the one insult I have never suffered. 



maffio (aside) 

He has enough of hate, if he needs that. 

DUKE 

Have prudence; in your dealings with the 

world 
Be not too hasty; act on the second thought, 
First impulses are generally good. 

guido (aside) 

Surely a toad sits on his lips, and spills its 
venom there. 



DUKE 

See thou hast enemies, 

Else will the world think very little of thee, 
It is its test of power ; yet see you show 
A smiling mask of friendship to all men, 
Until you have them safely in your grip, 
Then you can crush them. 
22 



THE DUCHESS OF PADUA 

guido (aside) act i. 

wise philosopher! 
That for thyself dost dig so deep a grave. 

moeanzone (to him) 
Dost thou mark his words f 

GUIDO 

0, be thou sure I do. 

DUKE 

And be not over-scrupulous; clean hands 
With nothing in them make a sorry show. 
If you would have the lion's share of life 
You must wear the fox's skin; Oh, it will fit 

you; 
It is a coat which fitteth every man, 
[The fat, the lean, the tall man, and the short, 
Whoever makes that coat, boy, is a tailor 
That never lacks a customer.] 

GUIDO 

Your Grace, 
I shall remember. 

DUKE 

That is well, boy, well. 
I would not have about me shallow fools, 

23 



THE DUCHESS OF PADUA 

act i. Who with mean scruples weigh the gold of 
life, 
And faltering, paltering, end by failure; 

failure, 
The only crime which I have not committed : 
I would have men about me. As for con- 
science, 
Conscience is but the name which cowardice 
Fleeing from battle scrawls upon its shield. 
You understand me, boy? 



GUIDO 

I do, your Grace, 
And will in all things carry out the creed 
Which you have taught me. 



MAFFIO 

I never heard your Grace 
So much in the vein for preaching; let the 

Cardinal 
Look to his laurels, sir. 



DUKE 

The Cardinal! 
Men follow my creed, and they gabble his. 
I do not think much of the Cardinal; 
Although he is a holy churchman, and 
24 



THE DUCHESS OF PADUA 

I quite admit his dulness. Well, sir, from act i. 
now 

We count you of our household. 

{He holds out his hand for guido to kiss. 
guido starts back in horror, but at a 
gesture from count mokanzone, kneels 
and kisses it.) 

We will see 

That you are furnished with such equipage 

As doth befit your honour and our state. 

GUIDO 

I thank your Grace most heartily. 



DUKE 

Tell me again 
What is your name? 



GUIDO 

Guido Ferranti, sir. 

DUKE 

And you are Mantuan? Look to your wives, 

my lords, 
When such a gallant comes to Padua. 
Thou dost well to laugh, Count Bardi; I have 

noted 

25 



THE DUCHESS OF PADUA 

act i. How merry is that husband by whose hearth 
Sits an uncomely wife. 

MAFFIO 

May it please your Grace, 
The wives of Padua are above suspicion. 

DUKE 

What, are they so ill-favoured! Let us go, 
This Cardinal detains our pious Duchess; 
His sermon and his beard want cutting both: 
Will you come with us, sir, and hear a text 
From holy Jerome! 

moranzone (bowing) 

My liege, there are some matters 



duke (interrupting) 

Thou need'st make no excuse for missing mass. 

Come, gentlemen. 

(Exit with his suite into Cathedral.) 

guido (after a pause) 

So the Duke sold my father; 
I kissed his hand. 

MOEANZONE 

Thou shalt do that many times. 
26 



THE DUCHESS OF PADUA 

GUIDO ACT I. 

Must it be so? 

MORANZONE 

Ay ! thou hast sworn an oath. 

GUIDO 

That oath shall make me marble. 

MORANZONE « 

Farewell, boy, 
Thou wilt not see me till the time is ripe. 

GUIDO 

I pray thou comest quickly. 

MORANZONE 

I will come 
When it is time; be ready. 

GUIDO 

Fear me not. 

MORANZONE 

Here is your friend; see that you banish him 
Both from your heart and Padua. 

GUIDO 

From Padua, 
Not from my heart. 

27 



THE DUCHESS OF PADUA 

ACT I. MORANZONE 

Nay, from thy heart as well, 
I will not leave thee till I see thee do it. 

GUIDO 

Can I have no friend? 

MORANZONE 

Eevenge shall be thy friend 
Thon need'st no other. 

GUIDO 

Well, then be it so. 
(Enter ascanto cristofano.) 

ASCANIO 

Come, Guido, I have been beforehand with 
you in everything, for I have drunk a flagon 
of wine, eaten a pasty, and kissed the maid 
who served it. Why, you look as melancholy 
as a schoolboy who cannot buy apples, or a 
politician who cannot sell his vote. What 
news, Guido, what news 1 

GUIDO 

Wiry, that we two must part, Ascanio. 

ASCANIO 

That would be news indeed, but it is not true. 

28 



THE DUCHESS OF PADUA 

GTJIDO ACT I. 

Too true it is, you must get hence, Ascanio, 
And never look upon my face again. 



ASCANIO 

No, no ; indeed you do not know me, Guido ; 
'Tis true I am a common yeoman's son, 
Nor versed in fashions of much courtesy; 
But, if you are nobly born, cannot I be 
Your serving man? I will tend you with 

more love 
Than any hired servant. 



guido (clasping his hand) 

Ascanio ! 
(Sees mobanzone looking at him and drops 
ascanio 's hand.) 
It cannot be. 



ascanio 

What, is it so with you! 
I thought the friendship of the antique world 
Was not yet dead, but that the Koman type 
Might even in this poor and common age 
Find counterparts of love ; then, by this love 
Which beats between us like a summer sea, 

29 



THE DUCHESS OF PADUA 

act i. Whatever lot has fallen to your hand 
May I not share it? 

GTJIDO 

Share it? 

ASCANIO 

Ay! 

GUIDO 

No, no. 

ASCANIO 

Have you then come to some inheritance 
Of lordly castle, or of stored-up gold? 

guido (bitterly) 

Ay ! I have come to my inheritance. 

bloody legacy! and murderous dole! 

Which, like the thrifty miser, must I hoard, 

And to my own self keep ; and so, I pray you, 

Let us part here. 

ASCANIO 

What, shall we never more 
Sit hand in hand, as we were wont to sit, 
Over some book of ancient chivalry 
Stealing a truant holiday from school, 
30 



THE DUCHESS OF PADUA 

Follow the huntsmen through the autumu act i. 

woods, 
And watch the falcons burst their tasselled 

jesses, 
When the hare breaks from covert. 



GUIDO 

Never more. 

ASCANTO 

Must I go hence without a word of love? 

GUIDO 

You must go hence, and may love go with 
you. 

ASCANIO 

You are unknightly, and ungenerous. 

GUIDO 

Unknightly and ungenerous if you will. 

Why should we waste more words about the 

matter ! 
Let us part now. 

ASCANIO 

Have you no message, Guido? 

31 



THE DUCHESS OF PADUA 

ACT I. GUIDO 

None; my whole past was but a schoolboy's 

dream, 
To-day my life begins. Farewell. 

ASCANIO 

Farewell (exits slowly). 

GUIDO 

Now are you satisfied? Have you not seen 
My dearest friend, and my most loved com- 
panion, 
Thrust from me like a common kitchen knave! 
Oh that I did it! Are you not satisfied? 

MORANZONE 

Ay! I am satisfied. Now I go hence, 
[Back to my lonely castle on the hill] 
Do not forget the sign, your father's dagger, 
And do the business when I send it to you. 

GUIDO 

Be sure I shall. (Exit lord moranzone.) 

GUIDO 

thou eternal heaven! 
If there is aught of nature in my soul, 
32 



THE DUCHESS OF PADUA 

Of gentle pity, or fond kindliness, act i. 

Whither it up, blast it, bring it to nothing, 

Or if thou wilt not, then will I myself 

Cut pity with a sharp knife from my heart 

And strangle mercy in her sleep at night 

Lest she speak to me. Vengeance there I 

have it. 
Be thou my comrade and my bedfellow, 
Sit by my side, ride to the chase with me, 
When I am weary sing me pretty songs, 
When I am light o' heart, make jest with 

me, 
And when I dream, whisper into my ear 
The dreadful secret of a father's murder — 
Did I say murder? {Draws his dagger.) 

Listen, thou terrible God! 
Thou God that punishest all broken oaths, 
And bid some angel write this oath in fire, 
That from this hour, till my dear father's 

murder 
In blood I have revenged, I do forswear 
The noble ties of honourable friendship, 
The noble joys of dear companionship, 
Affection's bonds, and loyal gratitude, 
Ay, more, from this same hour I do for- 
swear 

33 



THE DUCHESS OF PADUA 

act i. All love of women, and the barren thing 
Which men call beauty 

(The organ peals in the Cathedral, and under 
a canopy of cloth of silver tissue, borne 
by four pages in scarlet, the duchess of 
padua comes down the steps; as she 
passes across their eyes meet for a mo- 
ment, and as she leaves the stage she 
looks bach at guido, and the dagger falls 
from his hand.) 

Oh! who is that? 

A CITIZEN 

The Duchess of Padua! 



END OF ACT I. 



ACT II 



ACT II 

SCENE 

A state room in the Ducal Palace, hung with tapestries 
representing the Masque of Venus; a large door in the centre 
opens into a corridor of red marble, through which one can 
see a view of Padua; a large canopy is set (R. C.) with three 
thrones, one a little lower than the others; the ceiling is made 
of long gilded beams; furniture of the period, chairs covered 
with gilt leather and buffets, set zvith gold and silver plate, 
and chests painted with mythological scenes. A number of 
the courtiers are out on the corridor looking from it down into 
the street belozu; from the street comes the roar of a mob 
and cries of 'Death to the Duke': after a little interval 
enter the Duke very calmly, he is leaning on the arm of 
Guido Ferranti; zvith him enters also the Lord Cardinal; 
the mob still shouting. 

DUKE 

No, my Lord Cardinal, I weary of her! 
Why, she is worse than ugly, she is good. 

maffio (excitedly) 

Your Grace, there are two thousand people 

there 
Who everv moment grow more clamorous. 

37 



THE DUCHESS OP PADUA 

ACT II. DUKE 

Tut, man, they waste their strength upon 
their lungs! 

People who shout so loud, my lords, do no- 
thing, 

The only men I fear are silent men. 

(A yell from the people.) 

You see, Lord Cardinal, how my people love 
me, 

[This is their serenade, I like it better 

Than the soft murmurs of the amorous 
lute; 

Is it not sweet to listen to? (Another yell.) 

I fear 

They have become a little out of tune, 

So I must tell my men to fire on them. 

I cannot bear bad music!] Go, Petrucci, 

And tell the captain of the guard below 

To clear the square. Do you not hear me, 
sir? 

Do what I bid you. 

(Exit PETRUCCI.) 
CARDINAL. 

I beseech your Grace 
To listen to their grievances. 

38 



THE DUCHESS OF PADUA 

duke (sitting on his throne) act n. 

Ay ! the peaches 
Are not so big this year as they were last. 
1 crave your pardon, my lord Cardinal, 
I thought you spake of peaches. 

(A cheer from the people.) 
What is that? 



guido (rushes to the window) 
The Duchess has gone forth into the square, 
And stands between the people and the guard, 
And will not let them shoot. 



DUKE 

The devil take her ! 

guido (still at the window) 

And followed by a dozen of the citizens 

Has come into the Palace. 

duke (starting up) 

By Saint James, 
Our Duchess waxes bold! 



bardi 

Here comes the Duchess. 

39 



THE DUCHESS OF PADUA 

ACT II. DUKE 

Shut that door there; this morning air is cold. 
(They close the door on the corridor.) 
(Enter the duchess followed by a crowd of 
meanly dressed Citizens.) 

duchess (flinging herself upon her knees) 

I do beseech your Grace to give us audience. 

DUKE 

[Am I a tailor, Madame, that you come 
With such a ragged retinue before us?] 

DUCHESS 

[I think that their rags speak their grievances 
With better eloquence than I can speak.] 

DUKE 

What are these grievances 1 

DUCHESS 

Alas, my Lord, 
Such common things as neither you nor I, 
Nor any of these noble gentlemen, 
Have ever need at all to think about; 
They say the bread, the very bread they eat, 
Is made of sorry chaff. 
40 



THE DUCHESS OP PADUA 

FIRST CITIZEN "II 10V 

Ay! so it is, 
Nothing but chaff. 

DUKE 

And very good food too, 
I give it to my horses. 

duchess (restraining herself) 

They say the water, 
Set in the public cisterns for their use, 
[Has, through the breaking of the aqueduct,] 
To stagnant pools and muddy puddles turned. 

DUKE 

They should drink wine; water is quite un- 
wholesome. 

SECOND CITIZEN 

Alack, your Grace, the taxes which the 

customs 
Take at the city gate are grown so high 
We cannot buy wine. 



DUKE 

Then you should biess the taxes 
Which make you temperate. 

41 



THE DUCHESS OF PADUA 

DUCHESS 

Think, while we sit 
In gorgeous pomp and state [and nothing lack 
Of all that wealth and luxury can give 
And many servants have to wait upon us 
And tend our meanest need] , gaunt poverty 
Creeps through their sunless lanes and with 

sharp knives 
Cuts the warm throats of children stealthily 
And no word said. 



THIRD CITIZEN 

Ay! marry, that is true, 
My little son died yesternight from hunger, 
He was but six years old; I am so poor, 
I cannot bury him. 

DUKE 

If you are poor, 
Are -you not blessed in that? Why, poverty 
Is one of the Christian virtues, 

(Turns to the cardinal.) 
Is it not? 
I know, Lord Cardinal, you have great 

revenues, 
Rich abbey-lands, and tithes, and large estates 
For preaching voluntary poverty. 
42 



THE DUCHESS OF PADUA 

DUCHESS ACT H 

Nay but, my lord the Duke, be geuerous; 
While we sit here within a noble house 
[With shaded porticoes against the sun, 
And walls and roofs to keep the winter 

out,] 
There are many citizens of Padua 
Who in vile tenements live so full of holes, 
That the chill rain, the snow, and the rude 

blast, 
Are tenants also with them; others sleep 
Under the arches of the public bridges 
All through the autumn nights, till the wet 

mist 
Stiffens their limbs, and fevers come, and 

so 



DUKE 

And so they go to Abraham's bosom, Madam. 
They should thank me for sending them to 

Heaven, 
If they are wretched here. 

(To the CAKDHSTAL. ) 

Is it not said 
Somewhere in Holy Writ, that every man 
Should be contented with that state of life 

43 



THE DUCHESS OF PADUA 

act ii. God calls him to ? Why should I change 

their state, 
Or meddle with an all-wise providence, 
Which has apportioned that some men should 

starve 
And others surfeit? I did not make the 

world. 

FIRST CITIZEN 

He hath a hard heart. 

SECOND CITIZEN 

Nay, be silent, neighbour; 
I think the Cardinal will speak for us. 

CARDINAL. 

True, it is Christian to bear misery, 
[For out of misery God bringeth good,] 
Yet it is Christian also to be kind, 
[To feed the hungry, and to heal the sick,] 
And there seem many evils in this town, 
Which in your wisdom might your Grace 
reform. 

FIRST CITIZEN 

What is that word reform? What does it 
mean? 
44 



THE DUCHESS OF PADUA 

SECOND CITIZEN ACT II 

Marry, it means leaving things as they are; I 
like it not. 

DUKE 

Reform, Lord Cardinal, did you say reform? 
There is a man in Germany called Luther, 
Who would reform the Holy Catholic Church. 
Have you not made him heretic, and uttered 
Anathema, maranatha, against him? 

cardinal (rising from his seat) 

He would have led the sheep out of the fold, 

We do but ask of you to feed the sheep. 

DUKE 

When I have shorn their fleeces I may feed 
them. 

As for these rebels 

(duchess entreats him.) 

first citizen 

That is a kind word. 
He means to give us something. 

SECOND CITIZEN 

Is that so? 
45 



THE DUCHESS OF PADUA 

ACT II. DUKE 

These ragged knaves who come before us 

here, 
With mouths chock-full of treason. 

THIRD CITIZEN 

Good my Lord. 
Pill up our mouths with bread; we'll hold 
our tongues. 

DUKE 

Ye shall hold your tongues, whether you 

starve or not. 
My lords, this age is so familiar grown, 
That the low peasant hardly doffs his hat, 
Unless you beat him; and the raw mechanic 
Elbows the noble in the public streets, 
[As for this rabble here, I am their scourge, 
And sent by God to lash them for their sins.] 

DUCHESS 

[Hast thou the right? art thou so free from 
sin?] 

DUKE 

[When sin is lashed by virtue it is nothing, 
But when sin lashes sin then is God glad.] 
46 



THE DUCHESS OF PADUA 

DUCHESS ACT II. 

[Oh, are you not afraid?] 

DUKE 

[What have I to fear? 
Being man's enemy am I not God's friend? 

(To the Citizens.) 
Well, my good loyal citizens of Padua,] 
Still as our gentle Duchess has so prayed us, 
And to refuse so beautiful a beggar 
Were to lack both courtesy and love, 
Touching your grievances, I promise this 

FIRST CITIZEN 

Marry, he will lighten the taxes ! 

SECOND CITIZEN 

Or a dole of bread, think you, for each man? 

DUKE 

That, on next Sunday, the Lord Cardinal 
Shall, after Holy Mass, preach you a sermon 
Upon the Beauty of Obedience. 

(Citizens murmur.) 



FIRST CITIZEN 

I' faith, that will not fill our stomachs! 



47 



THE DUCHESS OF PADUA 

ACT II. SECOND CITIZEN 

A sermon is but a sorry sauce, when 
You have nothing to eat with it, 

DUCHESS 

Poor people 
You see I have no power with the Duke, 
But if you go into the court without, 
My almoner shall from my private purse, 
[Which is not ever too well stuffed with 

gold,] 
Divide a hundred ducats 'mongst you all. 

ALMONEE 

[Your grave has but a hundred ducats left.] 

DUCHESS 

[Give what I have.] 

FIEST CITIZEN 

God save the Duchess, say I. 

SECOND CITIZEN 

God save her. 

DUCHESS 

And every Monday morning shall bread be set 
For. those who lack it. 

(Citizens applaud and go out.) 
48 



THE DUCHESS OF PADUA 

first citizen (going out) 

Why, God save the Duchess again! 

duke {calling him back) 

Come hither, fellow! what is your name? 

FIRST CITIZEN 

Dominick, sir. 

DUKE 

'A good name!' Why were you called 
Dominick ? 

first citizen (scratching his head) 
Marry, because I was born on Saint George's 
day. 

DUKE 

A good reason ! here is a ducat for you ! 
Will you not cry for me God save the 
Duke? 

first citizen (feebly) 
God save the Duke. 

DUKE 

Nay! louder, fellow, louder. 

49 



THE DUCHESS OF PADUA 

actxi„ first citizen (a little louder) 

God save the Duke! 



DUKE 

More lustily, fellow, put more heart in 

it! 
Here is another ducat for you. 

first citizen (enthusiastically) 
God save the Duke ! 

duke (mockingly) 

Why, gentlemen, this simple fellow's love 
Touches me much. (To the Citizen, harshly.) 
Go! (Exit Citizen, bowing.) 
This is the way, my lords. 
You can buy popularity nowadays. 
Oh, we are nothing if not democratic! 

(To the duchess.) 
[So] Well, Madam, 
You spread rebellion 'midst our citizens, 
[And by your doles and daily charities, 
Have made the common people love you. 

Well, 
I will not have you loved.] 
50 



THE DUCHESS OF PADUA 

duchess {looking at guido) act n, 

[Indeed, my lord, 
I am not.] 

DUKE 

[And I will not have you give 
Bread to the poor merely because they are 
hungry.] 

DUCHESS 

My Lord, the poor have rights you cannot 

touch, 
The right to pity, and the right to mercy. 

DUKE 

So. ; so, you argue with me! This is she, 
The gentle Duchess for whose hand I yielded 
Three of the fairest towns in Italy, 
Pisa, and Genoa, and Orvieto. 

DUCHESS 

Promised, my Lord, not yielded: in that 

matter 
Brake you your word as ever. 

DUKE 

You wrong us, Madam 
There were state reasons. 

51 



THE DUCHESS OF PADUA 

&.CT II. DUCHESS 

What state reasons are there 
For breaking holy promises to a state? 

DUKE 

[There are wild boars at Pisa in a forest 
Close to the city : when I promised Pisa 
Unto your noble and most trusting father, 
I had forgotten there was hunting there.] 

DUCHESS 

[Those who forget what honour is, forget 
All things, my lord.] 

DUKE 

[At Genoa they say, 
Indeed I doubt them not, that the red mullet 
Buns larger in the harbour of that town 
Than anywhere in Italy. 

(Turning to one of the Court.) 
You, my lord, 
Whose gluttonous appetite is your only god, 
Could satisfy our Duchess on that point.] 

DUCHESS 

[And Orvieto?] 
52 



THE DUCHESS OF PADUA 

duke (yawning) act n. 

I cannot now recall 
Why I did not surrender Orvieto 
According to the word of my contract. 
Maybe it was because I did not choose. 

(Goes over to the duchess.) 
Why look you, Madam, you are here alone; 
['Tis many a dusty league to your grey 

France, 
And even there your father barely keeps 
A hundred ragged squires for his Court.] 
What hope have you, I say? Which of these 

lords 
And noble gentlemen of Padua 
Stands by thy side. 

DUCHESS 

There is not one. 

(guido starts, but restrains himself.) 



DUKE 

Nor shall be. 
While I am Duke in Padua: listen, Madam, 
[I am grown weary of your airs and graces,] 
Being mine own, you shall do as I will, 
And if it be my will you keep the house, 
Why then, this palace shall your prison be; 

53 



THE DUCHESS OF PADUA 

act ii. And if it be my will you walk abroad, 

Why, you shall take the air from morn to 
night. 

DUCHESS 

Sir, by what right ! 



DUKE 

Madam, my second Duchess 
Asked the same question once: her monu- 
ment 
Lies in the chapel of Bartholomew, 
Wrought in red marble; very beautiful. 
Guido, your arm. Come, gentlemen, let us go 
And spur our falcons for the mid-day chase. 
Bethink you, Madam, you are here alone. 
(Exit the duke leaning on guido, with his 
Court.) 

duchess (looking after them) 

[Is it not strange that one who seems so fair 
Should thus affect the Duke, hang on each 

word 
Which falls like poison from those cruel lips, 
And never leave his side, as though he loved 

him? 
Well, well, it makes no matter unto me, 

54 



THE DUCHESS OF PADUA 

1 am alone, and out of reach of love.] act n 

The Duke said rightly that I was alone; 

Deserted, and dishonoured, and defamed, 

Stood ever woman so alone indeed? 

Men when they woo us call us pretty 

children, 
Tell us we have not wit to make our lives, 
And so they mar them for us. Did I say 

woo? 
We are their chattels, and their common 

slaves, 
Less dear than the poor hound that licks their 

hand, 
Less fondled than the hawk upon their 

wrist. 
Woo, did I say? bought rather, sold and 

bartered, 
Our very bodies being merchandise. 
I know it is the general lot of women, 
Each miserably mated to some man 
Wrecks her own life upon his selfishness : 
That it is general makes it not less bitter. 
I think I never heard a woman laugh, 
Laugh for pure merriment, except one 

woman, 
That was at night time, in the public streets 

55 



THE DUCHESS OF PADUA 

act ii. Poor soul, she walked with painted lips, and 
wore 
The mask of pleasure: I would not laugh like 

her; 
No, death were better. 

(Enter guido behind unobserved; the duchess 
flings herself down before a picture of 
the Madonna.) 

Mary mother, with your sweet pale face 
Bending between the little angel heads 

That hover round you, have you no help for 

me? 
Mother of God, have you no help for 

me? 

GUIDO 

1 can endure no longer. 

This is my love, and I will speak to her. 
Lady, am I a stranger to your prayers? 



duchess (rising) 

None but the wretched need my prayers, my 
lord. 



guido 

Then must I need them, lady. 
56 



THE DUCHESS OF PADUA 

DUCHESS ACT H. 

How is that? 
Does not the Duke show thee sufficient 

honor, 
[Or dost thou lack advancement at the Court! 
Ah, sir, that lies not in my power to give you, 
Being my own self held of no account.] 

GUIDO 

Your Grace, I lack no favours from the Duke, 
Whom my soul loathes as I loathe wickedness, 
But come to proffer on my bended knees, 
My loyal service to thee unto death. 

DUCHESS 

Alas ! I am so fallen in estate 

I can but give thee a poor meed of thanks. 

guido (seizing her hand) 

Hast thou no love to give me? 

(The duchess starts, and guido falls at her 
feet.) 

dear saint, 
If I have been too daring, pardon me ! 
Thy beauty sets my boyish blood aflame, 
And, when my reverent lips touch thy white 
hand, 

57 



THE DUCHESS OF PADUA 

ict ii. Each little nerve with such wild passion thrills 
That there is nothing which I would not do 
To gain thy love. {Leaps up.) 

Bid me reach forth and pluck 
Perilless honour from the lion's jaws, 
And I will wrestle with the Nemean beast 
On the bare desert! Fling to the cave of War 
A gaud, a ribbon, a dead flower, something 
That once has touched thee, and I'll bring it 

back 
Though all the host of Christendom were 

there, 
Inviolate again! ay, more than this, 
Set me to scale the pallid white-faced cliffs 
Of mighty England, and from that arrogant 

shield 
Will I raze out the lilies of your France 
Which England, that sea-lion of the sea, 
Hath taken from her! 

dear Beatrice, 
Drive me not from thy presence! without 

thee 
The heavy minutes crawl with feet of lead, 
But, while I look upon thy loveliness, 
The hours fly like winged Mercuries 
And leave existence golden. 

58 



THE DUCHESS OF PADUA 

DUCHESS AC* IL 

I did not think 
I would be ever loved: do you indeed 
Love me so much as now you say you do ? 

GUIDO 

Ask of the sea-bird if it loves the sea, 
Ask of the roses if they love the rain, 
Ask of the little lark, that will not sing 
Till day break, if it loves to see the day: — 
And yet, these are but empty images, 
Mere shadows of my love, which is a fire 
So great that all the waters of the main 
Can not avail to quench it. Will you not 
speak ? 

DUCHESS 

I hardly know what I should say to you. 

GUIDO 

Will you not say you love me? 

DUCHESS 

Is that my lesson? 
Must I say all at once? 'Twere a good lesson 
If I did love you, sir; but, if I do not, 
What shall I say then? 

59 



THE DUCHESS OF PADUA 

ACT II, GUI DO 

If you do not love me, 
Say, none the less, you do, for on your tongue 
Falsehood for very shame would turn to truth. 

DUCHESS 

What if I do not speak at all? They say 
Lovers are happiest when they are in doubt. 

GUTDO 

Nay, doubt would kill me, and if I must die, 
Why, let me die for joy and not for doubt. 
Oh tell me may I stay, or must I go? 

DUCHESS 

I would not have you either stay or go ; 
For if you stay you steal my love from me, 
And if you go you take my love away. 
Guido, though all the morning stars could 

sing 
They could not tell the measure of my love. 
I love you, Guido. 

guido (stretching out his hands) 

Oh, do not cease at all; 
I thought the nightingale sang but at night; 
Or if thou needst must cease, then let my lips 
60 



THE DUCHESS OF PADUA 

Touch the sweet lips that can such music act ti 
make. 



DUCHESS 

To touch my lips is not to touch my heart. 

GTJIDO 

Do you close that against me? 

DUCHESS 

Alas ! my lord, 
I have it not : the first day that I saw you 
I let you take my heart away from me 5 
Unwilling thief, that without meaning it 
Didst break into my fenced treasury 
And filch my jewel from it! strange theft, 
Which made you richer though you knew it 

not, 
And left me poorer, and yet glad of it! 

guido (clasping her in his arms) 

love, love, love! Nay, sweet, lift up your 

head, 
Let me unlock those little scarlet doors 
That shut in music, let me dive for coral 
In your red lips, and I'll bear back a prize 
Richer than all the gold the Griffin guards 
In rude Armenia. 

61 



THE DUCHESS OF PADUA 

ACT II. DUCHESS 

You are my lord, 
And what I have is yours, and what I have 

not 
Your fancy lends me, like a prodigal 
Spending its wealth on what is nothing worth. 

(Kisses Mm.) 

GUIDO 

Methinks I am bold to look upon you thus : 

The gentle violet hides beneath its leaf 

And is afraid to look at the great sun 

For fear of too much splendour, but my eyes, 

daring eyes ! are grown so venturous 

That like fixed stars they stand, gazing at you. 

And surfeit sense with beauty. 

DUCHESS 

Dear love, I would 
You could look upon me ever, for your eyes 
Are polished mirrors, and when I peer 
Into those mirrors I can see myself, 
And so I know my image lives in you. 

guido (taking her in Ms arms) 

Stand still, thou hurrying orb in the high 

heavens, 
And make this hour immortal! (A pause.) 

62 



THE DUCHESS OF PADUA 

DUCHESS ACT 1 1 

Sit down here, 
A little lower than me : yes, just so, sweet, 
That I may run my fingers through your 

hair, 
And see your face turn upwards like a flower 
To meet my kiss. 

Have you not sometimes noted. 
When we unlock some long-disused room 
With heavy dust and soiling mildew filled, 
Where never foot of man has come for years, 
Ar«d from the windows take the rusty bar, 
And fling the broken shutters to the air, 
And let the bright sun in, how the good 

sun 
Turns every grimy particle of dust 
Into a little thing of dancing gold! 
Guido, my heart is that long-empty room, 
But you have let love in, and with its gold 
Gilded all life. Do you not think that love 
Pills up the sum of life? 

GUIDO 

Ay! without love 
Life is no better than the unhewn stone 
Which in the quarry lies, before the sculptor 

63 



THE DUCHESS OF PADUA 

act ii. Has set the God within it. Without love 
Life is as silent as the common reeds 
That through the marshes or by rivers grow, 
And have no music in them. 



DUCHESS 

Yet out of these 
The singer, who is Love, will make a pipe 
And from them he draws music; so I think 
Love will bring music out of any life 
Is that not true? 



GUIDO 

Sweet, women make it true. 
There are men who paint pictures, and carve 

statues, 
Paul of Verona and the dyer's son, 
Or their great rival, who, by the sea at Venice. 
Has set God's little maid upon the stair, 
White as her own white lily, and as tall, 
Or Raphael, whose Madonnas are divine 
Because they are mothers merely ; yet I think 
Women are the best artists of the world, 
For they can take the common lives of men 
Soiled with the money-getting of our age, 
And with love make them beautiful. 

64 



THE DUCHESS OF PADUA 

DUCHESS ACT H- 

Ah, dear, 
I wish that you and I were very poor; 
The poor, who love each other, are so rich. 

GUIDO 

Tell me again you love me, Beatrice. 

duchess (fingering his collar) 
How well this collar lies about your throat. 
(loed moeanzone looks through the door 
from the corridor outside.) 

GUIDO 

Nay, tell me that you love me. 

DUCHESS 

I remember, 
That when I was a child in my dear France, 
Being at Court at Fontainebleau, the King 
Wore such a collar. 

GUIDO 

Will you not say you love me? 

duchess (smiling) 

He was a very royal man, King Francis, 

65 



THE DUCHESS OF PADUA 

act n ( . Yet he was not royal as you are. 

Why need I tell you, Guido, that I love 
you? 

{Takes his head in her hands and turns his 
face up to her.) 
Do you not know that I am yours for ever, 
Body and soul. 

(Kisses him, and then suddenly catches sight 
of moeanzone and leaps up.) 
Oh, what is that? (moranzone disappears.) 

GUIDO 

What, love? 

DUCHESS 

Methought I saw a face with eyes of flame 
Look at us through the doorway. 

GUIDO 

Nay, 'twas nothing: 
The passing shadow of the man on guard. 
(The duchess still stands looking at the 
window. ) 
'Twas nothing, sweet. 

DUCHESS 

Ay! what can harm us now. 
66 



THE DUCHESS OF PADUA 

Who are in Love's land? I do not think I'd aoth, 

care 
Though the vile world should with its lackey 

Slander 
Trample and tread upon my life; why should I? 
They say the common field-flowers of the 

field 
Have sweeter scent when they are trodden 

on 
Than when they bloom alone, and that some 

herbs 
Which have no perfume, on being bruised die 
With all Arabia round them; so it is 
With the young lives this dull world seeks to 

crush, 
It does but bring the sweetness out of them, 
And makes they lovelier often. And besides. 
While we have love we have the best of life : 
Is it not so? 



GUIDO 

Dear, shall we play or sing? 
I think that I could sing now. 



DUCHESS 

Do not speak. 
For there are times when all existences 

67 



THE DUCHESS OF PADUA 

4.CT n. Seem narrowed to one single ecstasy, 
And Passion sets a seal upon the lips. 

GUIDO 

Oh, with mine own lips let me break that seal ! 
You love me, Beatrice? 

DUCHESS 

Ay! is it not strange 
I should so love mine enemy? 

GUIDO 

Who is he? 



DUCHESS 

Why, you: that with your shaft didst pierce 

hy heart! 
Poor heart, that lived its little lonely life 
Until it met your arrow. 

GUIDO 

Ah, dear love, 
I am so wounded by that bolt myself 
That with untended wounds I lie a-dying, 
Unless you cure me, dear Physician. 

DUCHESS 

I would not have you cured ; for I am sick 
With the same malady. 

68 I 



THE DUCHESS OF PADUA 

GUIDO ACT II 

Oh how I love you ! 
See, I must steal the cuckoo's voice, and tell 
The one tale over. 



DUCHESS 

Tell no other tale! 
For, if that is the little cuckoo's song, 
The nightingale is hoarse, and the loud lark 
Has lost its music. 



GUI DO 

Kiss me, Beatrice! 

{She takes his face in her hands and bends 
down and kisses him; a loud knocking 
then comes at the door, and guido leaps 
up; enter a Servant.) 

SERVANT 

A package for you, sir. 

guido (carelessly) 

Ah! give it to me. 

(Servant hands package wrapped in 

vermilion silk, and exit; as guido is 

about to open it the duchess comes up 

behind, and in sport takes it from him.) 

69 



THE DUCHESS OF PADUA 

act ii. duchess (laughing) 

Now I will wager it is from some girl 

Who would have you wear her favour; I am 

so jealous 
I will not give up the least part in you, 
But like a miser keep you to myself, 
And spoil you perhaps in keeping. 

GUIDO 

It is nothing. 

DUCHESS 

Nay, it is from some girl. 

GUIDO 

You know 'tis not. 

duchess (turns her back and opens it) 

Now, traitor, tell me what does this sign 

mean, 
A dagger with two leopards wrought in steel? 

GuiDO (taking it from her) 
God! 

DUCHESS 

I'll from the window look, and try 
If I can't see the porter's livery 
70 



THE DUCHESS OF PADUA 

Who left it at the gate ! I will not rest act n 

Till I have learned yonr secret. 

(Runs laughing into the corridor.) 



GUIDO 

Oh, horrible! 
Had I so soon forgot my father's death, 
Did I so soon let love into my heart, 
And must I banish love, and let in murder 
That beats and clamours at the outer gate? 
Ay, that I must! Have I not sworn an 

oath? 
Yet not to-night; nay, it must be to-night. 
Farewell then all the joy and light of life, 
All dear recorded memories, farewell, 
Farewell all love ! Could I with bloody hands 
Fondle and paddle with her innocent hands? 
Could I with lips fresh from this butchery 
Play with her lips? Could I with murderous 

eyes 
Look in those violet eyes, whose purity 
Would strike mine blind, and make each eye- 
ball reel 
In night perpetual? No, murder has set 
A barrier between us far too high 
For us to kiss across it. 

71 



THE DUCHESS OF PADUA 

ACT II. DUCHESS 

Guido I 

GUIDO 

Beatrice, 
You must forget that name, and banish me 
Out of your life for ever. 

duchess (going towards him) 

dear love ! 

guido (stepping back) 

There lies a barrier between us two 

We dare not pass. 

DUCHESS 

I dare do anything 
So that you are beside me. 

GUIDO 

Ah! There it is. 
I cannot be beside you, cannot breathe 
The air you breathe ; I cannot any more 
Stand face to face with beauty, which un- 
nerves 
My shaking heart, and makes my desperate 

hand 
Fail' of its purpose. Let me go hence, I pray ; 
Forget you ever looked upon me. 
72 



THE DUCHESS OF PADUA 

DUCHESS ACT H 

What! 
With your hot kisses fresh upon my lips 
Forget the vows of love you made to me ! 

GTTIDO 

I take them back! 



DUCHESS 

Alas, you cannot, Guido, 
For they are part of nature now ; the air 
Is tremulous with their music, and outside 
The little birds sing sweeter for those vows. 

GUIDO 

There lies a barrier between us now, 
Which then I knew not, or I had forgot. 



DUCHESS 

There is no barrier, Guido ; why, I will go 
In poor attire, and will follow you 
Over the world. 



guido (wildly) 

The world's not wide enough 
To hold us two ! Farewell farewell for ever. 

73 



THE DUCHESS OF PADUA 

iCTii, duchess (calm, and controlling her passion) 
Why did you come into my life at all, then, 
Or in the desolate garden of my heart 
Sow that white flower of love 1 



GU1DO 

Beatrice! 
Which now you would dig up, uproot, tear 

out, 
Though each small fibre doth so hold my 

heart 
That if you break one, my heart breaks 

with it? 
Why did you come into my life? Why 

open 
The secret wells of love I had sealed up? 
Why did you open them 1 



GUIDO 



God! 



duchess (clenching her hand) 

And let 
The floodgates of my passion swell and burst 
Till, like the wave when rivers overflow 
That sweeps the forest and the farm away, 
74 



THE DUCHESS OF PADUA 

Love in the splendid avalanche of its might act n. 

Swept my life with it? Mnst I drop by 

drop 
Gather these waters back and seal them up? 
Alas ! Each drop will be a tear, and so 
Will with its saltness make life very bitter. 



GUIDO 

I pray you speak no more, for I must go 
Forth from your life and love, and make a way 
On which you cannot follow. 



DUCHESS 

I have heard 
That sailors dying of thirst upon a raft, 
Poor castaways on a lonely sea, 
Dream of green fields and pleasant water- 
courses, 
And then wake up with red thirst in their 

throats, 
And die more miserably because sleep 
Has cheated them: so they die cursing sleep 
For having sent them dreams : I will not 

curse you 
Though I am cast away upon the sea 
Which men call Desolation. 

75 



THE DUCHESS OF PADUA 

ACT n. GUIDO 

OGod, God! 

DUCHESS 

But you will stay : listen, I love you, Guido. 

(She waits a little.) 
Is echo dead, that when I say I love you 
There is no answer? 

GUIDO 

Everything is dead, 
Save one thing only, which shall die to-night ! 

DUCHESS 

[Then I must train my lips to say farewell, 
And yet I think they will not learn that 

lesson, 
For when I shape them for such utterance 
They do but say I love you: must I chide 

them! 
And if so, can my lips chide one another? 
Alas, they both are guilty, and refuse 
To say the word.] 

GUIDO 

[Then I must say it for them, 
Farewell, we two can never meet again.] 

(Rushes towards her.) 
76 



THE DUCHESS OF PADUA 

DUCHESS ACT Tl 

If you are going, touch me not, but go. 

(Exit GUIDO.) 
[Never again, did he say never again? 
Well, well, I know my business! I will 

change 
The torch of love into a funeral torch, 
And with the flowers of love will strew my 

bier, 
And from love's songs will make a dirge, 

and so 
Die, as the swan dies, singing. 

misery, 
If thou wert so enamoured of my life, 
Why couldst thou not some other form have 

borne 1 
The mask of pain, and not the mask of love, 
The raven's voice, and not the nightingale's, 
The blind mole's eyes, and not those agate 

eyes 
Which, like the summer heavens, were so blue 
That one could fancy one saw God in them, 

So, misery, I had known thee.] 

Barrier ! Barrier S 
Why did he say there was a barrier? 
There is no barrier between us two. 

77 



THE DUCHESS OF PADUA 

act ii. He lied to me, and shall I for that reason 

Loathe what I love, and what I worshipped, 

hate? 
I think we women do not love like that. 
For if I cut his image from my heart, 
My heart would, like a bleeding pilgrim, 

follow 
That image through the world, and call it 

back 
With little cries of love. 

(Enter duke equipped for the chase, with 
falconers and hounds.) 



DUKE 

Madam, you keep us waiting; 
You keep my dogs waiting. 



DUCHESS 

I will not ride to-day. 

DUKE 

How now, what's this? 



utTCHESS 

My Lord, I cannot go. 
78 



THE DUCHESS OF PADUA 

DUKE AX3T n 

What, pale face, do you dare to stand against 

me? 
Why, I could set you on a sorry jade 
And lead you through the town, till the low 

rabble 
You feed toss up their hats and mock at you. 

DUCHESS 

Have you no word of kindness ever for me? 

DUKE 

[Kind words are lime to snare our enemies!] 
I hold you in the hollow of my hand 
And have no need on you to waste kind 
words. 

DUCHESS 

Well, I will go. 

duke (slapping his boot with his whip) 

No, I have changed my mind, 
You will stay here, and like a faithful wife 
Watch from the window for our coming back. 
Were it not dreadful if some accident 
By chance should happen to your loving Lord? 
Come, gentlemen, my hounds begin to chafe, 

79 



THE DUCHESS OF PADUA 

act ii. And I chafe too, having a patient wife. 
Where is young Guido? 



MAFFIO 

My liege, I have not seen him 
For a full hour past. 



DUKE 

It matters not, 
I dare say I shall see him soon enough. 
Well, Madam, you will sit at home and spin. 
I do protest, sirs, the domestic virtues 
Are often very beautiful in others. 

(Exit duke with his Court.) 

DUCHESS 

The stars have fought against me, that is all, 
And thus to-night when my Lord lieth asleep, 
Will I fall upon my dagger, and so cease. 
My heart is such a stone nothing can reach it 
Except the dagger's edge: let it go there, 
To find what name it carries : ay, to-night 
Death will divorce the Duke; and yet to- 
night 
He may die also, he is very old. 
Why' should he not die? Yesterday his hand 
Shook with a palsy : men have died from palsy, 
80 



THE DUCHESS OF PADUA 

And why not he ? Are there not fevers also, act il 

Agues and chills, and other maladies 

Most incident to old age! 

No, no, he will not die, he is too sinful; 

Honest men die before their proper time. 

Good men will die: men by whose side the 

Duke 
In all the sick polution of his life 
Seems like a leper: women and children 

die, 
But the Duke will not die, he is too sinful. 
Oh, can it be 

There is some immortality in sin, 
Which virtue has not? And does the wicked 

man 
Draw life from what to other men were 

death, 
Like poisonous plants that on corruption 

live? 
No, no, I think God would not suffer that : 
Yet the Duke will not die : he is too sinful. 
But I will die alone, and on this night 
Grim Death shall be my bridegroom, and the 

tomb 
My secret house of pleasure: well, what of 

that? 

81 



THE DUCHESS OF PADUA 

&CTTL The world's a graveyard, and we each, like 
coffins, 
Within us bear a skeleton. 

{Enter lord moraistzone all in black; he 
passes across the back of the stage look- 
ing anxiously about.) 

MORANZONE 

Where is Guido? 
I cannot find him anywhere. 

duchess {catches sight of him) 

God! 
'Twas thou who took my love away from me. 

moranzone {with a look of joy) 
What, has he left you? 

DUCHESS 

Nay, you know he has. 
Oh, give him back to me, give him back, I say, 
Or I will tear your body limb from limb, 
And to the common gibbet nail your head 
Until the carrion crows have stripped it bare. 
Better you had crossed a hungry lioness 
Before you came between me and my love. 

{With more pathos.) 
82 



THE DUCHESS OF PADUA 

Nay, give him back, you know not how I act it 

love him, 
Here by this chair he knelt a half hour since, 
'Twas there he stood, and there he looked at 

me, 
This is the hand he kissed [these are the lips 
His lips made havoc of], and these the ears 
Into whose open portals he did pour 
A tale of love so musical that all 
The birds stopped singing! Oh give him back 

to me. 



MORANZONE 

He does not love you, Madam. 



DUCHESS 

May the plague 
Wither the tongue that says so! Give him 
back. 



MORANZONE 

Madam, I tell you you will never see him, 
Neither to-night, nor any other night. 

DUCHESS 

What is your name? 

83 



THE DUCHESS OF PADUA 

1CT II. MOEANZONE 

My name ? Revenge ! 

(Exit.) 



DUCHESS 

Revenge ! 
I think I never harmed a little child. 
What should Revenge do coming to my door? 
It matters not, for Death is there already, 
Waiting with his dim torch to light my 

way. 
'Tis true that men hate thee, Death, and yet I 

think 
Thou wilt be kinder to me than my lover, 
And so dispatch the messengers at once, 
Hurry the lazy steeds of lingering day, 
And let the night, thy sister, come instead, 
And drape the world in mourning; let the owl, 
Who is thy minister, scream from his tower 
And wake the toad with hooting, and the 

bat, 
That is the slave of dim Persephone, 
Wheel through the sombre air on wandering 

wing! 
Tear up the shrieking mandrakes from the 

earth 

84 



THE DUCHESS OP PADUA 

And bid them make us music, and tell the acth. 

mole 
Tc dig deep down thy cold and narrow bed, 
For I shall lie within thine arms to-night. 



END OF ACT II. 



85 



ACT III 



ACT III 

SCENE 

A large corridor in the Ducal Palace; a window (L. C.) 
looks out on a view of Padua by moonlight; a staircase 
(R.C.) leads up to a door with a portiere of crimson velvet, 
with the Duke's arms embroidered in gold on it; on the lowest 
step of the staircase a figure draped in black is sitting; the 
hall is lit by an iron cresset filled with burning tow; thunder 
and lightning outside; the time is night. 

(Enter guido through the window.) 

GUIDO 

The wind is rising: how my ladder shook! 

I thought that every gust would break the 
chords ! (Looks out at the city.) 

Christ! What a night: 

Great thunder in the heavens, and wild light- 
nings 

Striking from pinnacle to pinnacle 

Across the city, till the dim houses seem 

89 



THE DUCHESS OF PADUA 

act in. To shudder and to shake as each new glare 
Dashes adown the street. 

(Passes across the stage to foot of stair- 
case.) 

Ah! who art thou 
That sittest on the stair, like unto Death 
Waiting a guilty soul ? (A pause.) 

Canst thou not speak? 
Or has this storm laid palsy on your tongue, 
And chilled your utterance? [Get from my 

path, 
For I have certain business in yon chamber 
Which I must do alone.] 

(The figure rises and takes off his mask.) 

MORANZONE 

Guido Ferranti, 
Thy murdered father laughs for joy to-night. 

guido (confusedly) 
What, art thou here? 

MOKANZONE 

Ay, waiting for your coming. 

guido (looking away from, him) 

1 did not think to see you but am glad, 
90 



THE DUCHESS OF PADUA 

That thou mayest know the [very] thing I act in. 
mean to do. 



MOEANZONE 

First, I would have you know my well-laid 

plans ; 
Listen: I have set horses at the gate 
Which leads to Parma: when thou hast done 

thy business 
We will ride hence, and by to-morrow night 
[If our good horses fail not by the way! 
Parma will see us coming; I have advised 
Many old friends of your great father there, 
Who have prepared the citizens for revolt. 
With money, and with golden promises, 
The which we need not keep, I have bought 

over 
Many that stand by this usurping Duke. 
As for the soldiers, they, the Duke being 

dead, 
Will fling allegiance to the winds, so thou 
Shalt sit again within thy father's palace, 
As Parma's rightful Lord.] 



GUIDO 

It cannot be. 
91 



THE DUCHESS OF PADUA 

ACT III. MORANZONE 

Nay, but it shall. 

GUIDO 

Listen, Lord Moranzone, 
I am resolved not to kill this man. 

MORANZONE 

Surely my ears are traitors, speak again : 
It cannot be but age has dulled my powers, 
I am an old man now: what did you say? 
You said that with that dagger in your belt 
You would avenge your father's bloody 

murder ; 
Did you not say that? 

GUIDO 

No, my lord, I said 
I was resolved not to kill the Duke. 

MORANZONE 

You said not that ; it is my senses mock me ; 
Or else this midnight air o'ercharged with 

storm 
Alters your message in the giving it. 

GUIDO* 

Nay, you heard rightly; I'll not kill this man. 
" 92 



THE DUCHESS OF PADUA 

MORANZONE ACT III. 

What of thine oath, thou traitor, what of thine 
oath? 

GUIDO 

I am resolved not to keep that oath. 

MORANZONE 

What of thy murdered father? 

GUIDO 

Dost thou think 
My father would be glad to see me coming, 
This old man's blood still hot upon mine 
hands I 

MORANZONE 

Ay! he would laugh for joy. 

GUIDO 

I do not think so. 
There is better knowledge in the other 

world ; 
Vengeance is God's, let God himself revenge. 



MORANZONE 

od's minister of vengeance. 

93 



Thou art God's minister of vengeance 



THE DUCHESS OF PADUA 

ACT III. GUIDO 

Not 
God hath no minister but his own hand. 
I will not kill this man. 



MORANZONE 

Why are you here, 
If not to kill him, then? 

GUIDO 

Lord Moranzone. 
I purpose to ascend to the Duke's chamber, 
And as he lies asleep lay on his breast 
The dagger and this writing; when he awakes 
Then he will know who held him in his power 
And slew him not: this is the noblest venge- 
ance 
Which I can take. 



MORANZONE 

You will not slay him? 



GUIDO 

No. 



MORANZONE 

Ignoble son of a noble father, 
94 



THE DUCHESS OF PADUA 

Who sufferest this man who sold that father act m. 
To live an hour. 



GUIDO 

'Twas thou that hindered me; 
I would have killed him in the open square, 
The day I saw him first. 

MORANZONE 

It was not yet time; 
Now it is time, and, like some green-faced girl. 
Thou pratest of forgiveness. 

GUIDO 

No! revenge: 
The right revenge my father's son should take. 

MORANZONE 

[0 wretched father, thus again betrayed, 
And by thine own son too !] : You are a coward, 
Take out the knife, get to the Duke's chamber, 
And bring me back his heart upon the blade. 
When he is dead, then you can talk to me 
Of noble vengeances. 

GUIDO 

Upon thine honour, 
And by the love thou bearest my father's name. 

95 



THE DUCHESS OF PADUA 

act in. Dost thou think my father, that great gentle- 
man, 

That generous soldier,that most chivalrous lord. 

Would have crept at night-time, like a com- 
mon thief, 

And stabbed an old man sleeping in his bed, 

However he had wronged him : tell me that. 

moeanzone (after some hesitation) 

You have sworn an oath, see that you keep 

that oath. 
Boy, do you think I do not know your secret, 
Your traffic with the Duchess? 



ourno 

Silence, liar, 
The very moon in heaven is not more chaste. 
Nor the white stars so pure. 

MOKANZONE 

And yet, you love her ; 
Weak fool, to let love in upon your life, 
Save as a plaything. 

GUIDO 

You do well to talk: 
Within your veins, old man, the pulse of youth 

96 " 



THE DUCHESS OF PADUA 

Throbs with no ardour. Your eyes full of act in. 

rheum 
Have against Beauty closed their filmy doors, 
And your clogged ears, losing their natural 

sense, 
Have shut you from the music of the world. 
You talk of love ! You know not what it is. 



MOEANZONE 

[Oh, in my time, boy, have I walked i' the 

moon, 
Swore I would live on kisses and on blisses, 
Swore I would die for love, and did not die, 
Wrote love bad verses; ay, and sung them 

badly, 
Like all true lovers : Oh, I have done the 

tricks ! 
I know the partings and the chamberings ; 
We are all animals at best, and love 
Is merely passion with a holy name.] 



GUIDO 

Now then I know you have not loved at 

all. 
Love is the sacrament of life ; it sets 
Virtue where virtue was not; cleanses men 

97 



THE DUCHESS OF PADUA 

Of all the vile pollutions of this world ; 

It is the fire which purges gold from dross, 

It is the fan which winnows wheat from chaff, 

It is the spring which in some wintry soil 

Makes innocence to blossom like a rose. 

The days are over when God walked with 

men, 
But Love, which is His image, holds His place, 
When a man loves a woman, then he knows 
God's secret, and the secret of the world. 
There is no house so lowly or so mean, 
Which, if their hearts be pure who live in it, 
Love will not enter; but if bloody murder 
Knock at the Palace gate and is let in, 
Love like a wounded thing creeps out and 

die's. 
This is the punishment God sets on sin. 
The wicked cannot love. 

(A groan comes from the duke's chamber.) 

Ah! What is that 1 
Do you not hear! 'Twas nothing. 

So I think 
That it is woman's mission by their love 
To saye the souls of men: and loving her, 
My Lady, my white Beatrice, I begin 
To see a nobler and a holier vengeance 

98 i 



THE DUCHESS OF PADUA 

In letting this man live, than doth reside act m 

In bloody deeds o' night, stabs in the dark, 
And young hands clutching at a palsied 

throat. 
It was, I think, for love's sake that Lord 

Christ, 
Who was indeed himself incarnate Love, 
Bade every man forgive his enemy. 

mokanzone (sneeringly) 

That was in Palestine, not Padua; 

And said for saints : I have to do with men. 

GUIDO 

It was for all time said. 



MORANZONE 

And your white Duchess, 
What will she do to thank you? [Will she 

not come, 
And put her cheek to yours, and fondle you, 
For having left her lord to plague her life?] 



GUIDO. 

Alas, I will not see her face again. 
'Tis but twelve hours since I parted from her. 
So suddenly, and with such violent passion, 

99 



THE DUCHESS OF PADUA 

ict in.. That she has shut her heart against me now : 
No, I will never see her. 



MORANZONE 

What will you do? 

GTJIDO. 

After that I have laid the dagger there, 
Get hence to-night from Padua. 

MORANZONE 

And then? 

GTJIDO. 

I will take service with the Doge at Venice, 
And bid him pack me straightway to the 

wars, 
[In Holy Land against the Infidel;] 
And there I will, being now sick of life, 
Throw that poor life against some desperate 

spear. 

(A groan from the duke's chamber again.) 
Did you not hear a voice 1 

MORANZONE 

I always hear, 
From the dim confines of some sepulchre, 
100 



THE DUCHESS OF PADUA 

A voice that cries for vengeance : We waste act in. 

time, 
It will be morning soon; are you resolved 
You will not kill the Duke? 



GUIDO. 

I am resolved. 



MORANZOISTE 

[Guido Ferranti, in that chamber yonder 
There lies the man who sold your father's life 
And gave him to the hangman's murderous 

hands. 
There does he sleep: you have your father's 

dagger ; 
Will you not kill him?] 

GUIDO. 

[No, I will not kill him.] 

MORANZOISTE 

wretched father, lying unavenged. 

GUIDO. 

More wretched were thy son a murderer. 

MORANZONE 

Whv, what is life? 

101 



THE DUCHESS OF PADUA 

ACT IIL, GUIDO. 

I do not know, my lord, 
I did not give it, and I dare not take it. 

MORANZONE 

I do not thank God often; but I think 

I thank him now that I have got no son ! 

And you, what bastard blood flows in your 

veins 
That when you have your enemy in your 

grasp 
You let him go ! I would that I had left you 
With the dull hinds that reared you. 

GUTDO 

Better perhaps 
That you had done so ! May be better still 
I'd not been borne to this distressful world. 

MORANZONE 

Farewell ! 

GUIDO 

Farewell! Some day, Lord Moranzone, 
You will understand my vengeance. 

MORANZONE 

Never, boy. 
(Gets out of window and exit by rope ladder.) 
102 



THE DUCHESS OF PADUA 

GUIDO ACT III. 

Father, I think thou knowest my resolve, 
And with this nobler vengeance are content. 
Father, I think in letting this man live 
That I am doing what you would have done. 
Father, I know not if a human voice 
Can pierce the iron gateway of the dead, 
Or if the dead are set in ignorance 
Of what we do, or do not, for their sakes. 
xVnd yet I feel a presence in the air, 
There is a shadow standing at my side, 
And ghostly kisses seem to touch my lips, 
And leave them holier. (Kneels down.) 

father, if 'tis thou, 
Canst thou not burst through the decrees of 

death, 
And if corporeal semblance show thyself, 
That I may touch thy hand! 

No, there is nothing. (Rises.) 
'Tis the night that cheats us with its phantoms, 
And, like a puppet-master, makes us think 
That things are real which are not. It grows 

late. 
Now must I to my business. 

(Pulls out a letter from his doublet and 

reads it.) 

103 



THE DUCHESS OF PADUA 

act in. When lie wakes, 

And sees this letter, and the dagger with it, 
Will he not have some loathing for his life, 
Repent, perchance, and lead a better life, 
Or will he mock because a young man spared 
His natural enemy? I do not care. 
Father, it is your bidding that I do, 
Your bidding, and the bidding of my love 
Which teaches me to know you as you are. 
(Ascends staircase stealthily, and just as he 
reaches out his hand to draw back the 
curtain the duchess appears all in white. 
guido starts back.) 



DUCHESS 

Guido ! what do you here so late ? 

GUIDO. 

white and spotless angel of my life, 
Sure thou hast come from Heaven with 

message 
That mercy is more noble than revenge 1 

DUCHESS 

[Ay! I do pray for mercy earnestly.] 
104 



THE DUCHESS OF PADUA 

GUIDO ACT IB 

[0 father, now I know I do your bidding, 
For hand in hand with Mercy, like a God, 
Has Love come forth to meet me on the way.] 

DUCHESS 

[I felt you would come back to me again, 

Although you left me very cruelly : 

Why did you leave me? Nay, that matters 

not, 
For I can hold you now, and feel your heart 
Beat against mine with little throbs of love : 
Our hearts are two caged birds, trying to kiss 
Across their cages ' bars : but the time goes, 
It will be morning in an hour or so ; 
Let us get horses : I must post to Venice, 
They will not think of looking for me there.] 

[guido] 

Love, I will follow you across the world. 

DUCHESS 

[But are you sure you love me?] 



GUIDO 

[Is the lark 
Sure that it loves the dawn that bids it sing!] 

105 



THE DUCHESS OF PADUA 

fc.CT III. DUCHESS 

[Could nothing ever change you?] 

GUIDO 

[Nothing ever 
The shipman's needle is not set more sure 
That I am to the lodestone of your love.] 

DUCHESS 

There is no barrier between us now. 

GUIDO 

None, love, nor shall be. 



DUCHESS 

I have seen to that. 



GUIDO 

Tarry here for me. 

DUCHESS 

No, you are not going? 
You will not leave me as you did before ! 

GUIDO 

I will return within a moment's space, 
But first I must repair to the Duke's chamber, 
106 



THE DUCHESS OF PADUA 

And leave this letter and this dagger there, act in. 

That when he wakes 



DUCHESS 

When who wakes? 



GUIDO 

Why, the Duke. 



DUCHESS 

He will not wake again. 



GUIDO 

What, is he dead! 



DUCHESS 

Ay ! he is dead. 

r 

GUIDO 

God! how wonderful 
Are all thy secret ways! Who would have 

said 
That on this very night, when I had yielded 
Into thy hands the vengeance that is Thine, 
Thou with thy finger should have touched 

the man, 
And bade him come before thy judgment 

seat. 

107 



THE DUCHESS OF PADUA 

1CT in. DUCHESS 

I have just killed him. 

guido (in horror) 

Oh! 



DUCHESS 

He was asleep ; 
Come closer, love, and I will tell you all. 
[Kiss me upon the mouth, and I will tell you. 
You will not kiss me now? — well, you will 

kiss me 
When I have told you how I killed the Duke. 
After you left me with such bitter words, 
Feeling my life went lame without your 

love.] 
I had resolved to kill myself to-night. 
About an hour ago I waked from sleep, 
And took my dagger from beneath my 

pillow, 
Where I had hidden it to serve my need, 
And drew it from the sheath, and felt the 

edge, 
And thought of you, and how I loved you. 

Guido, 
And turned to fall upon it, when I marked 
The old man sleeping, full of years and sin ; 

108 



THE DUCHESS OF PADUA 

There lay lie muttering curses in his sleep, act hi. 

And as I looked upon his evil face 

Suddenly like a flame there flashed across me, 

There is the barrier which Gruido spoke of : 

You said there lay a barrier between us, 

What barrier but he? — 

I hardly know 
What happened, but a streaming mist of 

blood 
Rose up between us two. 

GTJIDO 

[horrible!] 

DUCHESS 

[You would have said so had you seen that 

mist: 
And then the air rained blood] and then he 

groaned, 
And then he groaned no more! I only heard 
The dripping of the blood upon the floor. 

GTJIDO 

[Enough, enough.] 

DUCHESS 

[Will you not kiss me now? 
109 



THE DUCHESS OF PADUA 

act in. Do you remember saying that women's love 
Turns men to angels? well, the love of man 
Turns women into martyrs ; for its sake 
We do or suffer anything.] 



GUIDO 

[OGod!] 

DUCHESS 

[Will you not speak?] 



GUIDO 

[I cannot speak at all.] 



DUCHESS 

[This is the knife with which I killed the 

Duke. 
I did not think he would have bled so 

much, 
But I can wash my hands in water after ; 
Can I not wash my hands'? Ay, but my 

soul?] 
Let us not talk of this ! Let us go hence : 
Is not the barrier broken down between us? 
What would you more? Come, it is almost 

morning. (Puts her hand on guido's.) 

110 



THE DUCHESS OF PADUA 

guido (breaking from her) act in. 

damned saint ! angel fresh from Hell ! 
What bloody devil tempted thee to this ! 
That thou hast killed thy husband, that is 

nothing — 
Hell was already gaping for his soul — 
But thou hast murdered Love, and in its place 
Hast set a horrible and bloodstained thing, 
Whose very breath breeds pestilence and 

plague, 
And strangles Love. 

duchess {in amazed wonder) 

I did it all for you. 

1 would not have you do it, had you willed 

it, 
For I would keep you without blot or stain, 
A thing unblemished, unassailed, untarnished. 
Men do not know what women do for love. 
Have I not wrecked my soul for your dear 

sake, 



Here and hereafter? 
I did it all for you.] 



GUIDO 



[Oh be kind to me, 



No, do not touch me 
111 



THE DUCHESS OF PADUA 

act in. Between us lies a thin red stream of blood, 

I dare not look across it; when you stabbed 

him 
You stabbed Love with a sharp knife to the 

heart. 
We cannot meet again. 

duchess (wringing her hands) 

For you ! For you ! 
I did it all for you: have you forgotten? 
You said there was a barrier between us ; 
That barrier lies now i' the upper chamber 
Upset, overthrown, beaten, and battered 

down, 
And will not part us ever. 

GUIDO 

No, you mistook: 
Sin was the barrier, you have raised it up ; 
Crime was the barrier, you have set it there. 
The barrier was murder, and your hand 
Has builded it so high it shuts out heaven, 
It shuts out God. 

DUCHESS 

I did it all for you ; 
You dare not leave me now: nay, Guido, 
listen. 
112 



THE DUCHESS OF PADUA 

Get horses ready, we will fly to-night actiii. 

The past is a bad dream, we will forget it : 
Before us lies the future : will we not have 
Sweet days of . love beneath our vines and 

laugh? — 
No, no, we will not laugh, but, when we 

weep, 
Well, we will weep together; I will serve you 
[Like a poor housewife, like a common 

slave ;] 
I will be very meek and very gentle : 
You do not know me. 



GU1DO 

Nay, I know you no^; 
Get hence, I say, out of my sight. 

duchess (pacing up and down) 

God, 
How I have loved this man ! 



GUIDO 

You never loved me. 
Had it been so, Love would have [stopped] 

your hand, 
[Nor suffered you to stain his holy shrine, 
Where none can enter but the innocent.] 

113 



THE DUCHESS OF PADUA 

iCTIIL DUCHESS 

These are but words, words, words. 



GUIDO 

Get hence, I pray: 
How could we sit together at Love's table? 
You have poured poison in the sacred wine, 
And Murder dips his fingers in the sop. 
[Rather than this I had died a thousand 
deaths.] 



DUCHESS 

[I having done it, die a thousand deaths.] 

GUIDO 

[It is not death but life that you should fear. J 

duchess (throws herself on her knees) 

Then slay me now! I have spilt blood 

to-night, 
You shall spill more, so we go hand in 

hand 
To heaven or to hell. Draw your sword, 

Gruido, 
[And traffic quickly for my life with Death, 
Who is grown greedy of such merchandize.] 

114 



THE DUCHESS OF PADUA 

Quick, let your soul go chambering in my act. is 

heart, 
It will but find its master's image there. 
Nay, if you will not slay me with your sword, 
Bid me to fall upon this reeking knife, 
And I will do it. 

guido (wresting knife from her) 

Give it to me, I say. 
God, your very hands are wet with blood ! 
This place is Hell, I cannot tarry here. 



DUCHESS 

[Will you not raise me up before you go, 
Or must I like a beggar keep my knees.] 



GUIDO 

I pray you let me see your face no more. 

DUCHESS 

Better for me I had not seen your face. 
[0 think it was for you I killed this man.] 
(guido recoils; she seizes his hands as she 
kneels.) 
Nay, Guido, listen for a while : 
Until you came to Padua I lived 

115 



THE DUCHESS OF PADUA 

&.d m. Wretched indeed, but with no murderous 

thought, 
Very submissive to a cruel Lord, 
Very obedient to unjust commands, 
As pure I think as any gentle girl 
Who now would turn in horror from my 

hands — 
You came: ah! Guido, the first kindly words 
I ever heard since I had come from France 
Were from your lips : well, well, that is no 

matter. 
You came, and in the passion of your eyes 
I read love's meaning, everything you said 
Touched my dumb soul to music, [and you 

seemed 
Fair as that young Saint Michael on the wall 
In Santa Croce, where we go and pray. 
I wonder will I ever pray again? 
Well, you were fair, and in your boyish face 
The morning seemed to lighten,] so I loved 

you. 
And yet I did not tell you of my love. 
'Twas you who sought me out, knelt at my feet 
As I kneel now at yours, and with sweet vows. 

(Kneels.) 
Whose music seems to linger in my ears, 

116 



THE DUCHESS OF PADUA 

Swore that you loved me, and I trusted you. act ni. 
1 think there are many women in the world 
[Who had they been unto this vile Duke 

mated, 
Chained to his side, as the poor galley slave 
Is to a leper chained, — ay! many women] 
Who would have tempted you to kill the man. 
I did not. 

Yet I know that had I done so, 
I had not been thus humbled in the dust, 

(Stands up.) 
But you had loved me very faithfully. 

(After a pause approaches him. timidly.) 
I do not think you understand me, Guido : 
It was for your sake that I wrought this deed 
Whose horror now chills my young blood to 

ice, 
For your sake only. 

(Stretching out her arms.) 
Will you not speak to me? 
Love me a little: in my girlish life 
I have been starved for love, and kindliness 
Has passed me by. 

GUIDO 

I dare not look at you: 
117 



THE DUCHESS OF PADUA 

act in. You come to me with too pronounced a 
favour, 
Get to your tirewomen. 

DUCHESS 

Ay, there it is! 
There speaks the man! yet had you come to 

me 
With any heavy sin upon your soul, 
Some murder done for hire, not for love, 
Why, I had sat and watched at your bedside 
All through the night-time, lest Remorse 

might come 
And pour his poisons in your ear, and so 
Keep you from sleeping ! Sure it is the guilty, 
Who, being very wretched, need love most. 



GUTDO. 

There is no love where there is any guilt. 

DUCHESS 

No love where there is any guilt ! God, 
How differently do we love from men! 
There is many a woman here in Padua, 
Some workman's wife, or ruder artisan's, 
Whose husband spends the wages of the week 
In a coarse revel, or a tavern brawl, 
118 



THE DUCHESS OF PADUA 

And reeling home late on the Saturday night act hi. 
Finds his wife sitting by a tireless hearth, 
Trying to hush the child who cries for hunger, 
And then sets to and beats his wife because 
The child is hungry, and the fire black. 
Yet the wife loves him! and will rise next day 
With some red bruise across a careworn face, 
And sweep the house, and do the common 

service, 
And try and smile, and only be too glad 
If he does not beat her a second time 
Before her child ! — that is how women love. 

(A pause: guido says nothing.) 
[Do you say nothing? Oh be kind to me 
While yet I know the summer of my days.] 
I think you will not drive me from your side. 
Where have I got to go if you reject me? — 
You for whose sake this hand has murdered 

life, 
You for whose sake my soul has wrecked 

itself 
Beyond all hope of pardon. 

GUIDO 

Get thee gone : 
The dead man is a ghost, and our love too, 

119 



THE DUCHESS OF PADUA 

act m. Flits like a ghost about its desolate tomb, 

And wanders through this charnel house, and 

weeps 
That when you slew your lord you slew it also. 
Do you not see? 



DUCHESS 

I see when men love women 
They give them but a little of their lives, 
But women when they love give everything; 
I see that, Guido, now. 



GUIDO 

Away, away 
And come not back till you have waked your 
dead. 

DUCHESS 

I would to God that I could wake the dead, 
Put vision in the glazed eyes, and give 
The tongue its natural utterance, and bid 
The heart to beat again: that cannot be: 
For what is done, is done : and what is dead 
Is dead for ever : the fire cannot warm him : 
The winter cannot hurt him with its snows ; 
Something has gone from him ; if you call him 

now, 

120 



THE DUCHESS OF PADUA 

He will not answer ; if you mock him now, act nj 

He will not laugh; and if you stab him now 
He will not bleed. 

I would that I could wake him ! 
God, put back the sun a little space, 
And from the roll of time blot out to-night, 
And bid it not have been ! put back the sun, 
And make me what I was an hour ago ! 
No, no, time will not stop for anything, 
Nor the sun stay its courses, though Repent- 
ance 
Calling it back grow hoarse; but you, my love. 
Have you no word of pity even for me? 
Guido, Guido, will you not kiss me once? 
Drive me not to some desperate resolve: 
Women grow mad when they are treated 

thus : 
Will you not kiss me once? 



guido (holding up knife) 

[I will not kiss you 
Until the blood grows dry upon this knife, 
And not even then.] 



DUCHESS 

[Dear Christ! how little pity 
We women get in this untimely world; 

121 



THE DUCHESS OF PADUA 

ici in. Men lure us to some dreadful precipice, 
And, when we fall, they leave us.] 

guido (wildly) 

Back to your dead! 

duchess (going up the stairs) 

Why, then I will be gone! and may you 

find 
More mercy than you showed to me to-night ! 

GUIDO 

Let me find mercy when I go at night 
And do foul murder. 

duchess (coming down a few steps) 

Murder did you say? 
Murder is hungry, and still cries for more, 
And Death, his brother, is not satisfied, 
But walks the house, and will not go away, 
Unless he has a comrade! Tarry, Death, 
For I will give thee a most faithful lackey 
To travel with thee ! Murder, call no more, 
For thou shalt eat thy fill. 

There is a storm 
Will break upon this house before the morn- 
ing 
So horrible, that the white moon already 
122 



THE DUCHESS OF PADUA 

Turns grey and sick with terror, the low wind 
Goes moaning round the house, and the high 

stars 
Run madly through the vaulted firmament, 
As though the night wept tears of liquid 

fire 
For what the day shall look upon. weep, 
Thou lamentable heaven! Weep thy fill! 
Though sorrow like a cataract drench the 

fields, 
And make the earth one bitter lake of tears, 
It would not be enough. (A peal of thunder.) 

Do you not hear, 
[There is artillery in the Heaven to-night.] 
Vengeance is wakened up, and has unloosed 
His dogs upon the world, and in this matter 
Which lies between us two, let him who 

draws 
The thunder on his head beware the ruin 
Which the forked flame brings after. 

\A flash of lightning followed by a peal of 
thunder.) 

GTJ1DO 

Away! away! 

(Exit the duchess, who as she lifts the crimson 

123 



THE DUCHESS OF PADUA 

kOTin. curtain looks back for a moment at guido, 

but he makes no sign. More thunder.) 
Now is life fallen in ashes at my feet 
And noble love self-slain ; and in its place 
Crept mnrder with its silent bloody feet. 
And she who wronght it — Oh! and yet she 

loved me, 
And for my sake did do this dreadful thing. 
I have been cruel to her: Beatrice! 
Beatrice, I say, come back. 

(Begins to ascend staircase, when the noise of 
Soldiers is heard.) 

Ah! what is that? 
Torches ablaze, and noise of hurrying feet. 
Pray God they have not seized her. 

(Noise grows louder.) 
Beatrice ! 
There is yet time to escape. Come down 
come out! 
(The voice of the duchess outside.) 
This way went he, the man who slew my 
lord. 
(Down the staircase come hurrying a con- 
. fused body of Soldiers; guido is not seen 
at first, till the duchess surrounded by 
Servants carrying torches appears at the 
124 



THE DUCHESS OF PADUA 

top of the staircase, and points to gitido, act ni. 
who is seized at once, one of the Soldiers 
dragging the knife from his hand and 
showing it to the Captain of the Guard 
in sight of the audience. Tableau.) 



END OF ACT III. 



125 



ACT IV. 



ACT IV. 

SCENE 

The Court of Justice; the walls are hung with stamped grey 
velvet; above the hangings the wall is red, and gilt symbolical 
figures bear up the roof, which is made of red beams with grey 
soffits and moulding; a canopy of white satin flowered with 
gold is set for the Duchess; below it a long bench with red 
cloth for the Judges; below that a table for the clerks of the 
Court. Two soldiers stand on each side of the canopy, and two 
soldiers guard the door; the citizens have some of them col- 
lected in the Court, others are coming in greeting one another; 
tzvo tipstaffs in violet keep order zuith long white tvands. 

FIRST CITIZEN 

Good morrow, neighbour Anthony. 

SECOND CITIZEN 

Good morrow, neighbour Dominick. 

FIRST CITIZEN 

This is a strange day for Padua, is it not? 
— the Duke being dead. 

129 



THE DUCHESS OF PADUA 

ACT IV. SECOND CITIZEN 

1 tell you, neighbour Domini ck, I have not 
known such a day since the last Duke died: 
[and if you believe me not I am no true man.] 



FIRST CITIZEN 

They will try him first, and sentence him 
afterwards, will they not, neighbour Anthony? 



SECOND CITIZEN 

Nay, for he might 'scape his punishment 
then; but they will condemn him first so 
that he gets his deserts, and give him trial 
afterwards so that no injustice is done. 



FIEST CITIZEN 

Well, well, it will go hard with him I doubt 
not. 



SECOND CITIZEN 

Surely it is a grievous thing to shed a 
Duke's blood. 



tHIRD CITIZEN 

They say a Duke has blue blood. 
130 



THE DUCHESS OF PADUA 

SECOND CITIZEN ACT IV. 

I think our Duke's blood was black like his 
soul. 

FIRST CITIZEN 

Have a watch, neighbour Anthony, the 
officer is looking at thee. 

SECOND CITIZEN 

I care not if he does but look at me; he 
cannot whip me with the lashes of his eye. 



THIRD CITIZEN 

What think you of this young man who 
stuck the knife into the Duke? 



SECOND CITIZEN 

Why, that he is a well-behaved, and a well- 
meaning, and a well-favoured lad, and yet 
wicked in that he killed the Duke. 



THIRD CITIZEN 

'Twas the first time he did it: may be the 
law will not be hard on him, as he did not do 
it before. 

131 



THE DUCHESS OF PADUA 



ACT IV. SECOND CITIZEN 

True. 



TIFSTAFF 

Silence, knave. 



SECOND CITIZEN 

Am I thy looking-glass, Master Tipstaff, 
that thou callest me knave? 



FIRST CITIZEN 

Here be one of the household coming. 
Well, Dame Lucy, thou art of the Court, 
how does thy poor mistress the Duchess, 
with her sweet face? 



MISTRESS LUCY 

well-a-day. miserable day! day! 
misery! why it is just nineteen years last 
June, at Michaelmas, since I was married to 
my husband, and it is August now, and here 
is the Duke murdered; there is a coincidence 
for you! 



SECOND CITIZEN 

Why, if it is a coincidence, they may not 
132 



THE DUCHESS OF PADUA 

kill the young man: there is* no law against act iv. 
coincidences. 



FIRST CITIZEN 

But how does the Duchess? 

MISTEESS LUCY 

Well, well, I knew some harm would happen 
to the house: six weeks ago the cakes were 
all burned on one side, and last Saint Martin 
even as ever was, there flew into the candle 
a big moth that had wings, and a 'most scared 
me. 

FIRST CITIZEN 

But come to the Duchess, good gossip: 
what of her? 

MISTRESS LUCY 

Marry, it is time you should ask after her, 
poor lady; she is distraught almost. Why, 
sho has not slept, but paced the chamber all 
night long. I prayed her to have a posset, 
or some aqua- vita?, and to get to bed and 
sleep a little for her health's sake, but she 
answered me she was afraid she might dream. 
That was a strange answer, was it not? 

133 



THE DUCHESS OF PADUA 

ACT IV. SECOND CITIZEN 

These great folk have not much sense, so 
Providence makes it up to them in fine 
clothes. 



MISTRESS LUCY 

Well, well, God keep murder from us, I 
say, as long as we are alive. 

(Enter lord moranzone hurriedly.) 

MORANZONE 

Is the Duke dead? 



SECOND CITIZEN 

He has a knife in his heart, which they say 
is not healthy for any man. 

MORANZONE 

Who is accused of having killed him? 



SECOND CITIZEN 

Why, the prisoner, sir. 

MORANZONE 

But who is the prisoner? 
134 



THE DUCHESS OF PADUA 

SECOND CITIZEN ACT IV. 

Why, he that is accused of the Duke's 
murder. 



MORANZONE 

I mean, what is his name! 

SECOND CITIZEN 

Faith, the same which his godfathers gave 
him: what else should it be? 



TIPSTAFF 

Guido Ferranti is his name, my lord. 

MORANZONE 

I almost knew thine answer ere you gave it. 

(Aside.) 
Yet it is strange he should have killed the 

Duke, 
Seeing he left me in such different mood. 
It is most likely when he saw the man, 
This devil who had sold his father's life, 
That passion from their seat within his heart 
Thrust all his boyish theories of lov&, 
And in their place set vengeance; yet I 

marvel 

135 



THE DUCHESS OF PADUA 

act iv. That he escaped not. 

{Turning again to the crowd.) 
How was he taken, tell me. 

THIRD CITIZEN 

Marry, sir, he was taken by the heels. 

MORANZONE 

But who seized him? 

THIRD CITIZEN 

Why, those that did lay hold of him. 

MORANZONE 

How was the alarm given? 

THIRD CITIZEN 

That I cannot tell yon, sir. 

MISTRESS LUCY 

It was the Duchess herself who pointed him 
out. 

moranzone (aside) 

The Duchess! There is something strange 
in this. 
136 



THE DUCHESS OF PADUA 

MISTRESS LUCY ACT IV. 

Ay! and the dagger was in his hand — the 
Duchess's own dagger. 



MORANZONE 

What did you say? 



MISTRESS LUCY 

Why, marry, that it was with the Duchess's 
dagger that the Duke was killed. 

moranzone (aside) 

There is some mystery about this: I cannot 
understand it. 



SECOND CITIZEN 

They be very long a-coming. 

FIRST CITIZEN 

I warrant they will come soon enough for 
the prisoner. 



TIPSTAFF 

Silence in the Court! 

137 



THE DUCHESS OF PADUA 

ILCT IV. FIRST CITIZEN 

Thou dost break silence in bidding us keep 
it, Master Tipstaff. 

(Enter the lord justice and the other 
Judges.) 

SECOND CITIZEN 

Who is he in scarlet? Is he the headsman? 



THIRD CITIZEN 

Nay, he is the Lord Justice. 



(Enter guido guarded.) 



SECOND CITIZEN 

There be the prisoner surely. 

THIRD CITIZEN 

He looks honest. 



FIRST CITIZEN 

That be his villany: knaves nowadays do 
look so honest that honest folk are forced to 
look like knaves so as to be different. 

(Enter the Headsman, who takes his 
stand behind guido.) 
138 



THE DUCHESS OF PADUA 

SECOND CITIZEN ACT IV. 

Yon be the headsman then! Lord! Is 
the axe sharp, think you? 

FIRST CITIZEN 

Ay! sharper than thy wits are; but the 
edge is not towards him, mark you. 

second citizen (scratching his neck) 
I' faith, I like it not so near. 

first citizen 

Tut, thou need'st not be afraid; they never 
cut the heads off common folk: they do but 
hang us. (Trumpets outside.) 

THIRD CITIZEN 

What are the trumpets for? Is the trial 
over? 

FIRST CITIZEN 

Nay, 'tis for the Duchess. 

{Enter the duchess in black velvet; her train 
of flowered black velvet is carried by two 
pages in violet; with her is the cardinal 
in scarlet, and the gentlemen of the Court 

139 



THE DUCHESS OF PADUA 

in black; she takes her seat on the throne 
above the Judges, who rise and take their 
caps off as she enters; the cardinal sits 
next to her a little lower; the Courtiers 
group themselves about the throne.) 

SECOND CITIZEN 

poor lady, how pale she is! Will she sit 
there! 

FIRST CITIZEN 

Ay! she is in the Duke's place now. 

SECOND CITIZEN 

That is a good thing for Padua; the 
Duchess is a very kind and merciful Duchess; 
why, she cured my child of the ague once. 

THIRD CITIZEN 

Ay, and has given us bread: do not forget 
the bread. 

A SOLDIER 

Stand back, good people. 

SECOND CITIZEN 

If we be good, why should we stand back! 
140 



THE DUCHESS OF PADUA 

TIPSTAFF ACT IV. 

Silence in the Court! 



LOED JUSTICE 

May it please your Grace, 
Is it your pleasure we proceed to trial 
Of the Duke's murder, (duchess bows.) 

Set the prisoner forth. 
What is thy name! 

GUIDO 

It matters not, my lord. 

LOED JUSTICE 

Guido Ferranti is thy name in Padua. 

GUIDO 

A man may die as well under that name as 
any other. 

LOED JUSTICE 

Thou art not ignorant 

What dreadful charge men lay against thee 

here, 
Namely, the treacherous murder of thy Lord 
Simone Gesso, Duke of Padua ; 
What dost thou say in answer? 

141 



THE DUCHESS OF PADUA 

ACT IV. GUIDO 

I say nothing. 

LORD JUSTICE 

[Dost thou admit this accusation, then!] 



GUIDO 

[I admit naught, and yet I naught deny. 
I pray thee, my Lord Justice, be as brief 
As the Court's custom and the laws allow. 
I will not speak.] 



LORD JUSTICE 

[Why, then, it cannot be 
That of this murder thou art innocent, 
But rather that thy stony obstinate heart 
Hath shut its doors against the voice of 

justice. 
Think not thy silence will avail thee aught, 
'Twill rather aggravate thy desperate guilt, 
Of which indeed we are most well assured ; 
Again I bid thee speak.] 



GUIDO 

[I will say nothing.] 
142 



THE DUCHESS OF PADUA 

LORD JUSTICE ACT IV. 

[Then naught remains for me but to pronounce 
Upon thy head the sentence of swift Death.] 

GTTIDO 

[I pray thee give thy message speedily, 
Thou couldst not bring me anything more 
dear.] 

lord justice (rising) 
Ouido Ferranti 

moranzone (stepping from the crowd) 

Tarry, my Lord Justice. 

LORD justice 

Who art thou that bid'st justice tarry, sir? 

MORANZONE 

So be it justice it can go its way; 
But if it be not justice 

LORD JUSTICE 

Who is this? 

COUNT BARDI 

A very noble gentleman, and well known 
To the late Duke. 

143 



THE DUCHESS OF PADUA 

ACT IV. LOB.D JUSTICE 

Sir, thou art come in time 
To see the murder of the Duke avenged. 
There stands the man who did this heinous 
thing. 

MORANZONE 

Has merely blind suspicion fixed on him, 
Or have ye any proof he did the deed? 

LORD JUSTICE 

[Thrice has the Court entreated him to speak, 
But surely guilt weighs heavy on the tongue, 
For he says nothing in defence, nor tries 
To purge himself of this most dread account, 
Which innocence would surely do.] 

MORANZONE 

My lord. 
I ask again what proof have ye! 

lord justice (holding up the dagger) 

This dagger. 
Which from his blood-stained hands, itself all 

blood, 
Last night the soldiers seized: what further 

proof 
Need we indeed? 

144 



THE DUCHESS OF PADUA 

MORANZONE ACT IV. 

(takes the dagger and approaches the duchess) 
Saw I not such a dagger 
Hang from your Grace's girdle yesterday? 

(The duchess shudders and makes no 
answer.) 
Ah! my Lord Justice, may I speak a moment 
With this young man, who in such peril 
stands 1 



LORD JUSTICE 

Ay, willingly, my lord, and may you turn him 
To make a full avowal of his guilt. 

(lord MORANZoisrE goes over to guido, who 
stands R. and clutches him by the hand.) 

moranzone (in a low voice) 
[She did it ! Nay, I saw it in her eyes. 
Boy, dost thou think I'll let thy father's son 
Be by this woman butchered to his death? 
Her husband sold your father, and the wife 
Would sell the son in turn.] 



GUIDO 

[Lord Moranzone. 
I slone did this thing: be satisfied, 
Mv father is avenged.] 

145 



THE DUCHESS OF PADUA 

ACT IV, MOBANZONE 

[Enough, enough, 
I know you did not kill him ; had it been you, 
Your father's dagger, not this woman's toy, 
Had done the business : see how she glares 

at us! 
By Heaven, I will tear off that marble mask, 
And tax her with this murder before all.] 

GUIDO 

[You shall not do it.] 

MOBANZONE 

[Nay, be sure I shall.] 

GUIDO 

[My lord, you must not dare to speak.] 

MOBANZONE 

[Why not? 
If she is innocent she can prove it so ; 
If guilty, let her die.] 

GUIDO 

[What shall I do?] 

MOBANZONE 

[Or thou or I shall tell the truth in court.] 
146 



THE DUCHESS OF PADUA 

GUIDO ACT IV. 

[The truth is that I did it.] 

MORANZONE 

[Sayest thou so? 
Well, I will see what the good Duchess says.] 

GUIDO 

[No, no, I'll tell the tale.] 

MORANZONE 

[That is well, Guido. 
Ht r sins be on her head and not on thine. 
Did she not give you to the guard?] 

GUIDO 

[She did.] 

MORANZONE 

[Then upon her revenge thy father's death: 
She was the wife of Judas.] 

GUIDO 

[Ay, she was.] 

MORANZONE 

[I think you need no prompting now to do it, 
Though you were weak and like a boy last 
night.] 

147 



THE DUCHESS OF PADUA 

A.CTIV. GUIDO 

[Weak like a boy, was I indeed last night? 
Be sure I will not be like that to-day.] 

LOKD JUSTICE 

Doth he confess? 



GUIDO 

My lord, I do confess 
That foul unnatural murder has been done. 



FIEST CITIZEN 

Why, look at that: he has a pitiful heart, 
and does not like murder; they will let him 
go for that. 

LOKD JUSTICE 

Say you no more? 

GUIDO 

My lord, I say this also, 
That to spill human blood is deadly sin. 

SECOND CITIZEN 

Marry, he should tell that to the headsmen: 
tis a good sentiment. 
148 



THE DUCHESS OF PADUA 

GUIDO ACT IV. 

Lastly, my lord, I do entreat the Court 
To give me leave to utter openly 
The dreadful secret of this mystery, 
And to point out the very guilty one 
Who with this dagger last night slew the 
Duke. 



LORD JUSTICE 

Thou hast leave to speak. 

duchess (rising) 

I say he shall not speak : 
What need have we of further evidence? 
Was he not taken in the house at night 
In Guilt's own bloody livery. 

lord justice (showing her the statute) 

Your Grace 
Can read the law. 

duchess (waiving book aside) 

Bethink you, my Lord Justice, 
Is it not very like that such a one 
May, in the presence of the people here, 
Utter some slanderous word against my Lord, 

149 



THE DUCHESS OF PADUA 

act iv. Against the city, or the city's honour, 
Perchance against myself. 

LORD JUSTICE 

My liege, the law. 

DUCHESS 

He shall not speak, but, with gags in his 

mouth, 
Shall climb the ladder to the bloody block. 

LORD JUSTICE 

The law, my liege. 

DUCHESS 

We are not bound by law. 
But with it we bind others. 

MORANZONE 

My Lord Justice, 
Thou wilt not suffer this injustice here. 

LORD JUSTICE 

The Court needs not thy voice, Lord Moran- 

zone. 
Madame, it were a precedent most evil 
To wrest the law from its appointed course, 
For, though the cause be just, yet anarchy 

150 



THE DUCHESS OF PADUA 

Might on this licence touch these golden scales act rv. 
And unjust causes unjust victories gain. 



COUNT BARDI 

I do not think your Grace can stay the law. 

DUCHESS 

Ay, it is well to preach and prate of law : 
Methinks, my haughty lords of Padua, 
If ye are hurt in pocket or estate, 
So much as makes your monstrous revenues 
Less by the value of one ferry toll, 
Ye do not wait the tedious law's delay 
With such sweet patience as ye counsel 
me. 



COUNT BARDI 

Madam, I think you wrong our nobles here. 

DUCHESS 

I think I wrong them not. Which of ye all 
Finding a thief within his house at night, 
With some poor chattel thrust into his 

rags, 
Will stop and parley with him? do ye not 
Give him unto the officer and his hook 

151 



THE DUCHESS OF PADUA 

act iv. To be dragged gaolwards straightway? 

And so now. 
Had ye been men, finding this fellow here, 
With my Lord's life still hot upon his 

hands, 
Ye would have haled him out into the court, 
And struck his head off with an axe. 

GUIDO 

God! 

DUCHESS 

Speak, my Lord Justice. 

LOED JUSTICE 

Your Grace, it cannot be: 
The laws of Padua are most certain here: 
And by those laws the common murderer 

even 
May with his own lips plead, and make 

defence. 



DUCHESS 

[Tarry a little with thy righteousness.] 
This is no common murderer, Lord Justice, 
But a great outlaw, and a most vile traitor, 
Taken in open arms against the state. 
For he who slays the man who rules a state 
152 



THE DUCHESS OF PADUA 

Slays the state also, widows every wife, act rv. 

And makes each child an orphan, and no less 

Is to be held a public enemy, 

Than if he came with mighty ordonnance, 

And all the spears of Venice at his back, 

To beat and batter at our city gates — 

Nay, is more dangerous to our common- 
wealth 

[Than gleaming spears and thundering ordon- 
nance,] 

For walls and gates, bastions and forts, and 
things 

Whose common elements are wood and stone 

May be raised up, but who can raise again 

The ruined body of my murdered lord, 

And bid it live and laugh! 



MAFFIO 

Now by Saint Paul 
I do not think that they will let him speak. 



JEPPO VITELLOZZO 

There is much in this, listen. 



DUCHESS 

Wherefore now, 
Throw ashes on the head of Padua, 

153 



THE DUCHESS OF PADUA 

&.CTIV. With sable banners hang each silent street, 
Let every man be clad in solemn black, 
But ere we turn to these sad rites of mourning 
Let us bethink us of the desperate hand 
Which wrought and brought this ruin on our 

state, 
And straightway pack him to that narrow 

house, 
Where no voice is, but with a little dust 
Death fills right up the lying mouths of men. 



GUiDO 

Unhand me, knaves ! I tell thee, my Lord 

Justice, 
Thou mightst, as well bid the untrammelled 

ocean, 
The winter whirlwind, or the Alpine storm, 
Nor roar their will, as bid me hold my peace! 
Ay! though ye put vour knives into my 

throat 
Each grim and gaping wound shall find a 

tongue, 
And cry against you. 



LORD JUSTICE 

Sir, this violence 
Avails you nothing; for save the tribunal 
154 



THE DUCHESS OF PADUA 

Give thee a lawful right to open speech, act iv 

Naught that thou sayest can be credited. 
(The duchess smiles and guido falls back 
with a gesture of despair.) 
Madam, myself and these wise Justices, 
Will with your Grace's sanction now retire 
Into another chamber, to decide 
Upon this difficult matter of the law, 
And search the statutes and the precedents. 



DUCHESS 

Go, my Lord Justice, search the statutes 

well, 
Nor let this brawling traitor have his way. 



MORANZONE 

Go, my Lord Justice, search thy conscience 

well, 
Nor let a man be sent to death unheard. 

(Exit the lord justice and the Judges.) 



DUCHESS 

Silence, thou evil genius of my life! 
Thou com'st between us two a second time; 
This time, my lord, I think the turn is mine. 

155 



THE DUCHESS OF PADUA 

ACT IV. GUIDO 

I shall not die till I have uttered voice. 

duchess 

Thou shalt die silent, and thy secret with 
thee. 

GUIDO 

Art thou that Beatrice, Duchess of Padua? 

DUCHESS 

I am what thou hast made me; look at me 

well, 
T am thy handiwork. 

MAFFIO 

See, is she not 
Like that white tigress which we saw at 

Venice, 
Sent by some Indian soldan to the Doge. 

JEPPO 

Hush! she may hear thy chatter. 

HEADSMAN 

My young fellow, 
I do not know why thou shouldst care to 
speak, 
156 



THE DUCHESS OF PADUA 

Seeing my axe is close upon thy neck, act iv. 

And words of thine will never blunt its edge. 
But if thou art so bent upon it, why 
Thou mightest plead unto the Churchman 

yonder : 
The common people call him kindly here, 
Indeed I know he has a kindly soul. 



GTJIDO 

This man, whose trade is death, hath cour- 
tesies 
More than the others. 



HEADSMAN 

Why, God love you, sir, 
I'll do you your last service on this earth. 



GUIDO 

My good Lord Cardinal, in a Christian land, 
With Lord Christ's face of mercy looking 

down 
From the high seat of Judgment, shall a 

man 
Die unabsolved, unshrived? And if not so 
May I not tell this dreadful tale of sin, 
If any sin there be upon my soul. 

157 



THE DUCHESS OF PADUA 

A.CT IV. DUCHESS 

Thou dost but waste thy time. 

CAKDINAL. 

Alack, my son, 
I have no power with the secular arm. 
My task begins when justice has been done. 
To urge the wavering sinner to repent 
And to confess to Holy Church's ear 
The dreadful secrets of a sinful mind. 

DUCHESS 

Thou mayest speak to the confessional 
Until thy lips grow weary of their tale, 
But here thou shalt not speak. 

GUIDO 

My reverend father, 
You bring me but cold comfort. 

CARDINAL. 

Nay, my son, 
For the great power of our mother Church, 
Ends not with this poor bubble of a world, 
Of which we are but dust, as Jerome saith, 
For if the sinner doth repentant die, 
Our prayers and holy masses much avail 
To bring the guilty soul from purgatory. 

158 ; 



THE DUCHESS OF PADUA 

DUCHESS ACT IV. 

And when in purgatory thou seest my Lord 
With that red star of blood upon his heart, 
Tell him I sent thee hither. 

GTJJDO 

dear God ! 

MORANZONE 

This is the woman, is it, whom you loved? 

CARDINAL. 

Your Grace is very cruel to this man. 

DUCHESS 

No more than he was cruel to her Grace. 

CARDINAL. 

[Ay! he did slay your husband. 

DUCHESS 

Ah! he did.] 

CARDINAL. 

Yet mercy is the sovereign right of princes. 

DUCHESS 

I got no mercy, and I give it not. 

159 



THE DUCHESS OF PADUA 

act rv. He hath changed my heart into a heart of 

stone, 
He hath sown rank nettles in a goodly field, 
He hath poisoned the wells of pity in my 

breast, 
He that withered up all kindness at the root; 
My life is as some famine-murdered land, 
Whence all good things have perished utterly: 
I am what he hath made me. 

[The duchess weeps.] 

JEPPO 

Is it not strange 
That she should so have loved the wicked 
Duke? 

MAFFIO 

It is most strange when women love their 

lords, 
And when they love them not it is most 

strange ? 

JEPPO 

What a philosopher thou art, Petrucci! 

MAFFIO 

Ay! I can bear the ills of other men, 
Which is philosophy. 

160 ; 



THE DUCHESS OF PADUA 

DUCHESS ACT IV. 

They tarry long, 
These greybeards and their council; bid them 

come; 
Bid them come quickly, else I think my heart 
Will beat itself to bursting: not indeed, 
That I here care to live; God knows my life 
Is not so full of joy, yet, for all that, 
I would not die companionless, or go 
Lonely to Hell. 

Look, my Lord Cardinal, 
Canst thou not see across my forehead here, 
In scarlet letters writ, the word Bevenge? 
Fetch me some water, I will wash it off: 
'Twas branded there last night, but in the 

daytime 
I need not wear it, need I, my Lord Cardinal? 
Oh how it sears and burns into my brain: 
Give me a knife; not that one, but another, 
And I will cut it out. 

CARDINAL. 

It is most natural 
To be incensed against the murderous hand 
That treacherously stabbed your sleeping 
lord. 

161 



THE DUCHESS OF PADUA 

fcCT IV DUCHESS 

I would, old Cardinal, I could burn that hand; 
But it will burn hereafter. 

CARDINAL. 

Nay, the Church 
Ordains us to forgive our enemies. 

DUCHESS 

Forgiveness? what is that! I never got it. 

They come at last: well, my Lord Justice, 

well. (Enter the lord justice.) 

LORD JUSTICE 

Most gracious Lady, and our sovereign Liege. 
We have long pondered on the point at issue, 
And much considered of your Grace's wisdom, 
And never wisdom spake from fairer lips 

DUCHESS 

Proceed, sir, without compliment. 

LORD JUSTICE 

"We find, 
As your own Grace did rightly signify, 
That any citizen, who by force or craft 
Conspires against the person of the Liege, 
Is ipso facto outlaw, void of rights 
162 



THE DUCHESS OF PADUA 

Such as pertain to other citizens, agtiv. 

Is traitor, and a public enemy, 

Who may by any casual sword be slain 

Without the slayer's danger, nay if brought 

Into the presence of the tribunal, 

Must with dumb lips and silence reverent 

Listen unto his well-deserved doom, 

Nor has the privilege of open speech. 



DUCHESS 

I thank thee, my Lord Justice, heartily; 
I like your law : and now I pray dispatch 
This public outlaw to his righteous doom ; 
[For I am weary, and the headsman weary,] 
What is there moref 



LORD JUSTICE 

Ay, there is more, your Grace. 
This man being alien born, not Paduan, 
Nor by allegiance bound unto the Duke, 
Save such as common nature doth lay down, 
Hath, though accused of treasons manifold, 
Whose slightest penalty is certain death, 
Yet still the right of public utterance 
Before the people and the open court, 
Nay, shall be much entreated by the Court, 
To make some formal pleading for his life, 

163 



THE DUCHESS OF PADUA 

MDTiv. Lest his own city, righteously incensed, 

Should with an unjust trial tax our state, 
And wars spring up against the common- 
wealth ; 
So merciful are the laws of Padua 
Unto the stranger living in her gates. 

DUCHESS 

Bemg of my Lord's household, is he stranger 
here! 

LORD JUSTICE 

Ay, until seven years of service spent 
He cannot be a Paduan citizen. 

GUIDO 

I thank thee, my Lord Justice, heartily; 
I like your law. 



SECOND CITIZEN 

I like no law at all: 
Were there no law there 'd be no law-breakers. 
So all men would be virtuous. 



FIRST CITIZEN 

So they would 
'Tis a wise saying that, and brings you far. 
164 



THE DUCHESS OF PADUA 



TIPSTAFF 



ACT IV. 



Ay ! to the gallows, knave. 



DUCHESS 

Is this the law? 



LORD JUSTICE 

It is the law most certainly, my liege. 

DUCHESS 

Show me the book : 'tis written in blood-red. 

JEPPO 

Look at the Duchess. 

DUCHESS 

Thou accursed law, 
I would that I could tear thee from the state 
As easy as I tear thee from this book. 

(Tears out the page.) 
Come here, Count Bardi: are you honorable? 
Get a horse ready for me at my house, 
For I must ride to Venice instantly. 

BAEDI 

To Venice, Madam? 

165 



THE DUCHESS OF PADUA 

ACT IV. DUCHESS 

Not a word of this, 
Go, go at once. (Exit count bakdi.) 

A moment, my Lord Justice. 
If, as thou sayest it, this is the law — 
Nay, nay, I doubt not that thou sayest right, 
Though right be wrong in such a case as this — 
May I not by the virtue of mine office 
Adjourn this court until another day? 

LOKD JUSTICE 

Madam, you cannot stay a trial for blood. 

DUCHESS 

I will not tarry then to hear this man 
Rail with rude tongue against our sacred per- 
son. 
[I have some business also in my house 
Which I must do :] Come, gentlemen. 

LOUD JUSTICE 

My liege, 
You cannot leave this court until the prisoner 
Be purged or guilty of this dread offence. 

DUCHESS 

Cannot, Lord Justice? By what right do you 
166 



THE DUCHESS OF PADUA 

Set. barriers in my path where I should go ? act iv. 
Am I not Duchess here in Padua, 
And the state's regent? 

LORD JUSTICE 

For that reason, Madam, 
Being the fountain-head of life and death 
Whence, like a mighty river, justice flows, 
Without thy presence justice is dried up 
And fails of purpose: thou must tarry here. 

DUCHESS 

What, wilt thou keep me here against my 
will? 

LORD JUSTICE 

We pray thy will be not against the law. 

DUCHESS 

What if I force my way out of the court? 

LORD JUSTICE 

Thou canst not force the Court to give thee 
way. 

DUCHESS 

I will not tarry. (Rises from her seat.) 

167 



THE DUCHESS OF PADUA 

ACT TV. LORD JUSTICE 

Is the usher here? 

Let him stand forth. (Usher comes forward.) 

Thou knowest thy business, sir. 

{The Usher closes the doors of the court, 

which are L., and when the duchess 

and her retinue approach, kneels down.) 

USHER 

In all humility I beseech your Grace 

Turn not my duty to discourtesy, 

Nor make my unwelcome office an offence. 

[The self -same laws which make your Grace 

the Regent 
Bid me watch here: my Liege, to break those 

laws 
Is but to break thine office and not mine.] 



DUCHESS 

Is there no gentleman amongst you all 
To prick this prating fellow from our way. 



maffio (drawing his sword) 

Ay ! that will I. 
168 



THE DUCHESS OF PADUA 

LORD JUSTICE ACT IV. 

Count Maffio, have a care, 
And you, sir. (To jeppo.) 

The first man who draws his sword 
Upon the meanest officer of this Court, 
Dies before nightfall. 



DUCHESS 

Sirs, put up your swords: 
It is most meet that I should hear this man. 

(Goes back to throne.) 



MORANZONE 

Now hast thou got thy enemy in thy hand. 

lord justice (taking the time-glass up) 

Guido Ferranti, while the crumbling sand 
Falls through this time-glass, thou hast leave 

to speak. 
This and no more. 

GUIDO 

It is enough, my lord. 

LORD JUSTICE 

Thou standest on the extreme verge of death; 

169 



THE DUCHESS OF PADUA 

kcr tv. See that thou speakest nothing but the truth, 
Naught else will serve thee. 

GUTDO 

If I speak it not, 
Then give my body to the headsman here. 

lord justice (turns the time-glass) 

Let there be silence while the prisoner speaks. 

TIPSTAFF 

Silence in the Court there. 

GUIDO 

My Lords Justices, 
And reverent judges of this worthy court, 
I hardly know where to begin my tale, 
So strangely dreadful is this history. 
First, let me tell you of what birth I am. 
I am the son of that good Duke Lorenzo 
Who was with damned treachery done to 

death 
By a most wicked villain, lately Duke 
Of this good town of Padua. 

LORD JUSTICE 

Have a care, 
It will avail thee nought to mock this prince 
Who now lies in his coffin. 
170 



THE DUCHESS OF PADUA 

MAFFIO ACT IV, 

By Saint James, 
This is the Duke of Parma's rightful heir. 



JBPPO 

I always thought him noble. 



GUIDO 

I confess 
That with the purport of a just revenge 
A most just vengeance on a man of blood, 
I entered the Duke's household, served his 

will, 
Sat at his board, drank of his wine, and was 
His intimate: so much I will confess, 
And this too, that I waited till he grew 
To give the fondest secrets of his life 
Into my keeping, till he fawned on me, 
And trusted me in every private matter 
Even as my noble father trusted him ; 
That for this thing I waited. 

(To the Headsman.) 
Thou man of blood! 
Turn not thine axe on me before the time: 
Who knows if it be time for me to die? 
Is there no other neck in court but mine 1 ? 

171 



THE DUCHESS OF PADUA 

ACT IV LORD JUSTICE 

The sand within the time-glass flows apace. 
Come quickly to the murder of the Duke. 

GTJ1D0 

I will be brief: Last night at twelve o' the 
clock, 

By a strong rope I scaled the palace wall, 
With purport to revenge my father's murder — 
Ay! with that purport I confess, my lord. 
This much I will acknowledge, and this also, 
That as with stealthy feet I climbed the stair 
Which led unto the chamber of the Duke, 
And reached my hand out for the scarlet cloth 
Which shook and shivered in the gusty door, 
Lo ! the white moon that sailed in the great 

heaven 
Flooded with silver light the darkened room, 
Night lit her candles for me, and I saw 
The man I hated, cursing in his sleep, 
And thinking of a most dear father murdered. 
Sold to the scaffold, bartered to the block, 
I smote the treacherous villain to the heart 
WitJi this same dagger, which by chance I 

found 
Within the chamber. 

172 



THE DUCHESS OF PADUA 

duchess (rising from her seat) actit. 

Oh! 

guido (hurriedly) 

I killed the Duke. 
Now, my Lord Justice, if I may crave a boon, 
Suffer me not to see another sun 
Light up the misery of this loathsome world. 

LORD JUSTICE 

Thy boon is granted, thou shalt die to-night. 
Lead him away : Come, Madam. 

( guido is led off; as he goes the duchess 

stretches out her arms and rushes down 

the stage.) 

DUCHESS 

Guido : Guido ! 
(Faints.) 

Tableau 



END OF ACT IV. 



173 



ACT V 



ACT V 

SCENE 

A dungeon in the public prison of Padua; Guido lies asleep 
on a pallet (L.C.) ; a table with a goblet on it is set (L.C.) ; 
five soldiers are drinking and playing dice in the corner on a 
stone table; one of them has a lantern hung to his halbert; 
a torch is set in the wall over Guido's head. Two grated 
windows behind, one on each side of the door which is (C.) 
look out into a passage; the stage is rather dark. 

piest soldier (throws dice) 
Sixes again! good Pietro. 

SECOND SOLDIER 

I' faith, lieutenant, I will play with thee no 
more. I will lose everything. 

THIRD SOLDIER 

Except thy wits : thou art safe there ! 

SECOND SOLDIER 

Ay, ay, he cannot take them from me. 

177 



THE DUCHESS OF PADUA 

ACT V. THIRD SOLDIER 

No ; for thou hast no wits to give him. 

the soLdiees (loudly) 
Ha! ha! ha! 

FIRST SOLDIER 

Silence! Yon will wake the prisoner; he 
is asleep. 

SECOND SOLDIER 

What matter? He will get sleep enough 
when he is buried. I warrant he'd be glad if 
we could wake him when he's in the grave. 

THIRD SOLDIER 

Nay; for when he wakes there it will be 
judgment day. 

SECOND SOLDIER 

Ay, and he has done a grievous thing; for, 
look you, to murder one of us who are but 
flesh and blood is a sin, and to kill a Duke goes 
being near against the law. 

FIRST SOLDIER 

Well, well, he was a wicked Duke. 

178 



THE DUCHESS OF PADUA 

SECOND SOLDIER ACT V. 

And so he should not have touched him; if 
one meddles with wicked people, one is like to 
be tainted with their wickedness. 

THIRD SOLDIER 

Ay, that is true. How old is the prisoner? 

SECOND SOLDIER 

Old enough to do wrong, and not old 
enough to be wise. 

FIRST SOLDIER 

Why, then, he might be any age. 

SECOND SOLDIER 

They say the Duchess wanted to pardon 
him. 

FIRST SOLDIER 

Is that SO? 

SECOND SOLDIER 

Ay, and did much entreat the Lord Justice, 
but he would not. 

FIRST SOLDIER 

I had thought, Pietro, that the Duchess 
was omnipotent. 

179 



THE DUCHESS OF PADUA 

kGT V. SECOND SOLDIER 

True, she is well-favoured; I know none so 

comely. 



THE SOLDIERS 

Ha! ha! ha! 

FIRST SOLDIER 

I meant I had thought our Duchess could do 

anything. 



SECOND SOLDIER 

Nay, for he is now given over to the 
Justices, and they will see that justice be 
done; they and stout Hugh the headsman; 
but when his head is off, why then the Duchess 
can pardon him if she likes ; there is no law 
against that. 



FIRST SOLDIER 

[I do not think that stout Hugh, as you call 
him, will do the business for him after all. 
This Guido is of gentle birth, and so by the 
law can drink poison first, if it so be his 
pleasure.] 
180 



THE DUCHESS OF PADUA 

THIRD SOLDIER ACT V. 

[Faith, to drink poison is a poor pleasure.] 

SECOND SOLDIER 

[What kind of poison is it?] 

FIRST SOLDIER 

j Why, of the kind that kills.] 

SECOND SOLDIER 

[What sort of a thing is poison 1 ?] 

FIRST SOLDIER 

[It is a drink, like water, only not so healthy: 
if you would taste it there is some in the cup 
there.] 

SECOND SOLDIER 

[By Saint James, if it be not healthy, I will 
have none of it!] 

THIRD SOLDIER 

[And if he does not drink it?] 

FIRST SOLDIER 

FWhy, then, they will kill him.] 

181 



THE DUCHESS OF PADUA 

ACT V. TH1KD SOLDIER 

[ And if he does drink it?] 

FIRST SOLDIER 

[Why, then, he will die.] 



SECOND SOLDIER 

[He has a grave choice to make. I trust 
he will choose wisely.] 

(Knocking comes at the door.) 



FIRST SOLDIER 

See who that is. 

{Third Soldier goes over and looks through 
the wicket.) 

THIRD SOLDIER 

It is a woman, sir. 



FIRST SOLDIER 

Is she pretty? 

THIRD SOLDIER 

I can't tell. She is masked, lieutenant. 
182 



THE DUCHESS OF PADUA 

FIRST SOLDIER ACT V. 

It is only very ugly or very beautiful women 
who ever hide their faces. Let her in. 

(Soldier opens the door, and the duchess 
masked, and cloaked enters.) 

duchess (to Third Soldier) 
Are you the officer on guard? 

first soldier (coming forward) 
I am, madam. 

DUCHESS 

I must see the prisoner alone. 

FIRST SOLDIER 

I am afraid that is impossible. (The duchess 
hands him a ring, he looks at and returns it to 
her with a bowandmakes a sign to the Soldiers.) 
Stand without there. (Exeunt the Soldiers.) 

DUCHESS 

Officer, your men are somewhat rough. 

FIRST SOLDIER i 

They mean no harm. 

183 



THE DUCHESS OF PADUA 

ACT V. DUCHESS 

I will be going back in a few minutes. As I 
pass through the corridor do not let them try 
and lift my mask. 

FIEST SOLDIER 

You need not be afraid, madam. 

DUCHESS 

I have a particular reason for wishing my 
face not to be seen. 

FIRST SOLDIER 

Madam, with this ring you can go in and 
out as you please; it is the Duchess's own 
ring. 

DUCHESS 

Leave us. (The Soldier turns to go out.) 
A moment, sir. For what hour is . . . 

FIRST SOLDIER 

At twelve o'clock, madam, we have orders 
to lead him out; but I dare say he won't wait 
for us; he's more like to take a drink out of 
that poison yonder. Men are afraid of the 
headsman. 
184 



THE DUCHESS OF PADUA 

DUOHESS ACT V - 

Is that poison? 

FIRST SOLDIER 

Ay, madam, and very sure poison too. 

DUOHESS 

You may go, sir. 

FIRST SOLDIER 

By Saint James, a pretty hand! I wonder 
who she is. Some woman who loved him, 
perhaps. (Exit.) 

duchess (taking her mask of.) 

At last ! 

He can escape now in this cloak and vizard, 

We are of a height almost : they will not know 

him; 
As for myself what matter? 
So that he does not curse me as he goes, 
I care but little : I wonder will he curse me, 
He has the right. It is eleven now, 
They will not come till twelve. [What will 

they say 
When they find the bird has flown?] 

(Goes over to the table.) 
185 



THE DUCHESS OF PADUA 

So this is poison. 
Is it not strange that in this liquor here 
There lies the key to all philosophies ? 

(Takes the cup up.) 
It smells of poppies. I remember well 
That, when I was a child in Sicily, 
I took the scarlet poppies from the corn, 
And made a little wreath, and my grave uncle, 
Don John of Naples, laughed: I did not know 
That they had power to stay the springs of 

life, 
To make the pulse cease beating, and to chill 
The blood in its own vessels, till men come 
And with a hook hale the poor body out, 
And throw it in a ditch : the body, ay, — 
What of the soul? that goes to heaven or 

hell. 
Where will mine go? 

(Takes the torch from the wall, and goes over 
to the bed.) 

How peacefully here he sleeps / 
Iiike a young schoolboy tired out with play : 
I would that I could sleep so peacefully, 
But I have dreams. (Bending over him.) 

Poor boy: what if I kissed him? 
No. no, my lips would burn him like a fire. 
186 



THE DUCHESS OF PADUA 

He has had enough of Love. Still that white \ctv. 

neck 
Will 'scape the headsman : I have seen to that ; 
He will get hence from Padna to-night, 
And that is well. You are very wise, Lord 

Justices, 
And yet you are not half so wise as I am, 
And that is well. 

God! how I have loved you. 
And what a bloody flower did Love bear! 

(Comes back to the table.) 
What if I drank these juices, and so ceased? 
Were it not better than to wait till Death 
Come to my bed with all his serving men, 
Remorse, disease, old age, and misery? 
I wonder does one suffer much: I think 
That I am very young to die like this, 
But so it must be. Why, 5 why should I 

die? 
He will escape to-night, and so his blood 
Will not be on my head. No, I must die; 
I have been guilty, therefore I must die. 
He loves me not, and therefore I must die : 
I would die happier if he would kiss me, 
But he will not do that. I did not know 

him, 

187 



THE DUCHESS OF PADUA 

I thought he meant to sell me to the Judge ; 
That is not strange ; we women never know 
Our lovers till they leave us. 

(Bell begins to toll. 
Thou vile bell, 
That like a bloodhound from thy brazen 

throat 
CalPst for this man's life, cease! thou shalt not 

get it. 
He stirs — I must be quick: (Takes up cup.) 

Love, Love, Love, 
I did not think that I would pledge thee thus ! 
(Drinks poison, and sets the cup down on the 
table behind her: the noise wakens guido, 
who starts up, and does not see what she 
has done. There is silence for a minute, 
each looking at the other.) 
I do not come to ask your pardon now, 
Seeing I know I stand beyond all pardon, 
A very guilty, very wicked woman; 
Enough of that: I have already, sir, 
Confessed my sin to the Lords Justices ; 
They would not listen to me : and some said 
I did invent a tale to save your life, 
You having trafficked with me ; others said 
That women played with pity as with men; 
188 



THE DUCHESS OF PADUA 

Others that grief for my slain Lord and act v. 

husband 
Had robbed me of my wits : they would not 

hear me, 
And, when I sware it on the holy book, 
They bade the doctor cure me. They are ten, 
Ten against one, and they possess your life. 
They call me Duchess here in Padua. 
I do not know, sir ; if I be the Duchess, 
I wrote your pardon, and they would not take 

it; 
They call it treason, say I taught them that ; 
Maybe I did. Within an hour, Guido, 
They will be here, and drag you from the cell, 
And bind your hands behind your back, and 

bid you 
Kneel at the block: I am before them there; 
Here is the signet ring of Padua, 
'Twill bring you safely through the men on 

guard, 
There is my cloak and vizard; they hava 

orders 
Not to be curious : when you pass the gate 
Turn to the left, and at the second bridge 
You will find horses waiting: by to-morrow 
You will be at Venice, safe. (A pause.) 

189 



THE DUCHESS OF PADUA 

aotv. Do you not speak? 

Will you not even curse me ere you go ? — 
You have the right. (A pause.) 

You do not understand 
There lies between you and the headsman's 

axe 
Hardly so much sand in the hour-glass 
As a child 's palm could carry : here is the ring : 
I have washed my hand: there is no blood 

upon it: 
You need not fear. Will you not take the 

ring? 

guido (takes ring and kisses it) 
Ay! gladly, Madam. 



DUCHESS 

And leave Padua 

GUIDO 

Leave Padua. 



DUCHESS 

But it must be to-night. 

GUIDO 

To-night it shall be. 
190 



THE DUCHESS OF PADUA 

DUCHESS ACT V. 

Oh, thank God for that! 

GUIDO 

So I can live ; life never seemed to sweet 
As at this moment. 

DUCHESS 

Do not tarry, Guido, 
There is my cloak : the horse is at the bridge, 
The second bridge below the ferry house : 
Why do yon tarry! Can your ears not hear 
This dreadful bell, whose every ringing stroke 
Eobs one brief minute from your boyish life. 
Go quickly. 

GUIDO 

Ay! he will come soon enough. 

DUCHESS 

Who? 

guido (calmly) 

Why, the headsman. 

DUCHESS 

No, no. 

GUIDO 

Only he 
Can bring me out of Padua. 

191 



THE DUCHESS OF PADUA 

ACT V. DUCHESS 

You dare not! 
You dare not burden my o'erburdened soul 
With two dead men ! I think one is enough. 
For when I stand before God, face to face, 
I would not have you, with a scarlet thread 
Around your white throat, coming up behind 
To say I did it : [Why, the very devils 
Who howl away in hell would pity me ; 
You will not be more cruel than the devils 
Who are shut out from God.] 



GU1D0 

Madam, I wait. 



DUCHESS 

No, no, you cannot : you do not understand, 
[I have less power in Padua to-night 
Than any common woman; they will kill you.j 
I saw the scaffold as I crossed the square, 
[ Already the low rabble throng about it 
With fearful jests, and horrid merriment, 
As though it were a morris-dancer's platform, 
And not Death's sable throne.] Guido, 

' Guido, 
You must escape ! 
192 



THE DUCHESS OF PADUA 

GUIDO ACT V. 

[Ay, by the hand of death, 
Not by your hand.] 

DUCHESS 

[Oh, you are merciless, 
Merciless now as ever: No, no Ghiido, 
You must go hence.] 

GUIDO 

Madam, I tarry here. 

DUCHESS 

Guido, you shall not: it would be a thing 
So terrible that the amazed stars 
Would fall from heaven, and the palsied moon 
Be in her sphere eclipsed, and the great sun 
Refuse to shine upon the unjust earth 
Which saw thee die. 

GUIDO 

Be sure I shall not stir., 

duohess {wringing her hands) 

[You do not know : once that the judges come 

I have no power to keep you from the axe; 

You cannot wait: have I not sinned enough?] 

Is one sin not enough, but must it breed 

A second sin more horrible again 

193 



THE DUCHESS OF PADUA 

act v. Than was the one that bare it? God, God, 

Seal up sin's teeming womb, and make it 

barren, 
I will not have more blood upon my hand 
Than I have now. 

GuiDO (seizing her hand) 

What! am I fallen so low 
That I may not have leave to die for you? 

duchess (tearing her hand away) 
Die for me? — no, my life is a vile thing, 
Thrown to the miry highways of this world; 
You shall not die for me, you shall not, Guido, 
I am a guilty woman. 

GUIDO 

Guilty?— let those 
Who know what a thing temptation is, 
Let those who have not walked as we have 

done, 
In the red fire of passion, those whose lives 
Are dull and colourless, in a word let those, 
If any such there be, who have not loved, 
Cast stones against you. As for me. 

DUCHESS 

Alas ! 
194 



THE DUCHESS OF PADUA 

guido (falling at her feet) act.v, 

You are my lady, and you are my love ! 

hair of gold, crimson lips, face 
Made for the luring and the love of man! 
Incarnate image of pure loveliness ! 
Worshipping thee I do forget the past, 
Worshipping thee my soul comes close to 

thine, 
Worshipping thee I seem to be a god, 
And though they give my body to the block, 
Yet is my love eternal! 

(duchess puts her hands over her face) 
guido draws them down.) 

Sweet, lift up 
The trailing curtains that overhang thine 

eyes 
That I may look into those eyes, and tell you 

1 love you, never more than now when Death 
Thrusts his cold lips between us : Beatrice, 

I love you: have you no word left to say? 

Oh, I can bear the executioner, 

But not this silence: will you not say you love 

me? 
Speak but that word and Death shall lose his 

sting, 
But speak it not, and fifty thousand deaths 

195 



THE DUCHESS OF PADUA 

IlCT v. Are, in comparison, mercy. Oh you are cruel 
And do not love me. 

DUCHESS 

Alas ! I have no right. 
For I have stained the innocent hands of love 
With spilt-out blood: there is blood on the 

ground, 
I set it there. 

GTJID0 

Sweet, it was not yourself, 
It was some devil tempted you. 

duchess (rising suddenly) 

No, no, 
We are each our own devil, and we make 
This world our hell. 

GUIDO 

Then let high Paradise 
Fall into Tartarus ; for I shall make 
This world my heaven for a little space. 
[I love you, Beatrice.] 

duchess 

[I am not worthy, 
Being a thing of sin.] 

GUIDO 

No, my Lord Christ 
196 



THE DUCHESS OF PADUA 

The sin was mine, if any sin there was. act v. 

'Twas I who nurtured murder in my heart, 
Sweetened my meats, seasoned my wine with 

it, 
And in my fancy slew the accursed Duke 
A hundred times a day. Why, had this man 
Died half so often as I wished him to, 
Death had been stalking ever through the 

house, 
And murder had not slept. 

But you, fond heart. 
Whose little eyes grew tender over a whipt 

hound, 
You whom the little children laughed to 

see 
Because you brought the sunlight where you 

passed, 
You the white angel of God's purity, 
This which men call your sin, what was it? 



DUCHESS 

Ay! 

What was it? There are times it seems a 

dream, 
An evil dream sent by an evil god, 
And then I see the dead face in the coffin 

197 



THE DUCHESS OF PADUA 

act v. And know it is no dream, but that my hand 

Is red with blood, and that my desperate soul 
Striving to find some haven for its love 
From the wild tempest of this raging world, 
Has wrecked its bark upon the rocks of sin. 
What was it, said you? — murder merely? 

Nothing 
But murder, horrible murder. 



GUIDO 

Nay, nay, nay, 
'Twas but the passion-flower of your love 
That in one moment leapt to terrible life, 
And in one moment bare this gory fruit, 
Which I had plucked in thought a thousand 

times. 
My soul was murderous, but my hand refused; 
Your hand wrought murder, but your soul was 

pure. 
And so I love you, Beatrice, and let him 
Who has no mercy for your stricken head, 
Lack mercy up in heaven! Kiss me, sweet. 

(Tries to kiss her.) 



DUCHESS 

No, no, your lips are pure, and mine are 
soiled, 
198 



1HE DUCHESS OF PADUA 

For Guilt has been my paramour, and Sin act v. 

Lain in my bed : Guido, if you love me 
Get hence, for every moment is a worm 
Which gnaws your life away: nay, sweet, get 

hence, 
And if in after time you think of me, 
Think of me as of one who loved you more 
Than anything on earth ; think of me, Guido, 
As of a woman merely, one who tried 
To make her life a sacrifice to love, 
And slew love in the trial: Oh, what is 

that? 
The bell has stopped from ringing, and I 

hear 
The feet of armed men upon the stair. 

guido (aside) 

That is the signal for the guard to come. 

DUCHESS 

Why has the bell stopped ringing? 



GUIDO 

If you must know, 
That stops my life on this side of the grave, 
But on the other we shall meet again. 

199 



THE DUCHESS OF PADUA 

ACT V. DUCHESS 

No, no, 'tis not too late: you must get 

hence ; 
The horse is by the bridge, there is still time. 
Away, away, you must not tarry here! 

(Noise of Soldiers in the passage.) 

A VOICE OUTSIDE 

Room for the Lord Justice of Padua ! 

(The lord justice is seen through the grated 
window passing down the corridor pre- 
ceded by men bearing torches.) 

DUCHESS 

It is too late. 

A VOICE OUTSDDE 

Room for the headsman. 

duchess (sinks down) 

Oh! 
(The Headsman with his axe on his shoulder 
is seen passing the corridor, followed by 
Monks bearing candles) 

GUIDO 

[Farewell, dear love, for I must drink this 
poison. v 

200 



THE DUCHESS OF PADUA 

I do not fear the headsman, but I would die act v, 
Not on the lonely scaffold.] 

DUCHESS 

[Oh!] 



GUIDO 

[But here, 
Here in thine arms, kissing thy mouth: 
farewell ! 

{Goes to the table and takes the goblet up.) 
What, art thou empty? 

(Throws it to the ground.) 
thou churlish goaler, 
Even of poisons niggard.] 

duchess {faintly) 

Blame him not. 

GUIDO ; 

God! you have not drunk it, Beatrice? 
Tell me you have not? 

DUCHESS 

Were I to deny it. 
There is a fire eating at my heart 
Which would find utterance. 

201 



THE DUCHESS OF PADUA 

A.OT V. GUIDO 

treacherous love, 
Why have you not left a drop for me? 

DUCHESS 

No, no, it held but death enough for one. 

GUIDO 

Is there no poison still upon your lips, 
That I may draw it from them? 

DUCHESS 

Why should you die? 
You have not spilt blood, and so need not die: 
I have spilt blood, and therefore I must die. 
Was it not said blood should be spilt for 

blood? 
Who said that? I forget. 

GUIDO 

Tarry for me, 
Our souls will go together. 

DUCHESS 

Nay, you must live. 
There are many other women in the world 
202 



THE DUCHESS OF PADUA 

Who will love you, and not murder for youi iCTV 
sake. 



GUIDO 

I love you only. 

DUCHESS 

You need not die for that. 

GUIDO 

Ah, if we die together, love, why then 
Can we not lie together in one grave. 

DUCHESS 

A grave is but a narrow wedding-bed. 

GUIDO 

It is enough for us. 



DUCHESS 

And they will strew it 
With a stark winding-sheet, and bitter herbs ; 
I think there are no roses in the grave, 
Or if there are, they all are withered now 
Since my Lord went there. 

203 



THE DUCHESS OF PADUA 

ACT V. GUIDO 

Ah ! dear Beatrice, 
Your lips are roses that death cannot wither. 

DUCHESS 

Nay, if we lie together, will not my lips 
Fall into dust, and your enamoured eyes 
Shrivel to sightless sockets, and the worms, 
Which are our groomsmen, eat away your 
heart. 

GUIDO 

I do not care : Death has no power on love, 
And so by Love's immortal sovereignty 
I will die with you. 

DUCHESS 

But the grave is black. 
And the pit black, so I must go before 
To light the candles for your coming hither. 
No, no, I will not die, I will not die. 
Love, you are strong, and young, and very 

brave, 
Stand between me and the angel of death, 
And wrestle with him for me. 

(Thrusts guido in front of her with his back 

to the audience.) 

204 



THE DUCHESS OF PADUA 

I will kiss you, act y. 
When you have thrown him. Oh, have you 

no cordial, 
To stay the workings of this poison in me? 
Are there no rivers left in Italy 
That you will not fetch me one cup of water 
To quench this fire? 



GUIDO 

God! 



DUCHESS 

You did not tell me 
There was a drought in Italy, and no water, 
Nothing but fire. 

Love ! 



DUCHESS 

Send for a leech, 
Not him who stanched my husband, but 

another, 
We have no time : send for a leech, I say : 
There is an antidote against each poison, 
And he will sell it if we give him money. 
Tell him that I will give him Padua, 

205 



THE DUCHESS OF PADUA 

act v. For one short hour of life : I will not die. 

Oh, I am sick to death : no, do not touch me, 
This poison gnaws my heart : I did not know 
It was such pain to die : I thought that life 
Had taken all the agonies to iself ; 
It seems it is not so. 



GUIDO 

damned stars, 
Quench your vile cresset-lights in tears, and 

bid 
The moon, your mistress, shine no more to- 
night. 

DUCHESS 

Guido, why are we here 1 I think this room 
Is poorly furnished for a marriage chamber. 
Let us get hence at once. Where are the 

horses? 
We should be on our way to Venice now. 
How cold the night is ! We must ride faster. 
[That is our wedding-bell, is it not, Gruido!] 
(The Monks begin to chant outside.) 
Music ! It should be merrier ; but grief 
Is, of the fashion now — I know not why. 
You must not weep: do we not love each 

other?— 

206 



THE DUCHESS OF PADUA 

That is enough. Death, what do you here? act v. 

You were not bidden to this table, sir; 
Away, we have no need of you : I tell you 
It was in wine I pledged you, not in poison. 
They lied who told you that I drank your 

poison. 
It was spilt upon the ground, like my Lord's 

blood; 
You came too late. 



GUIDO 

Sweet, there is nothing there 
These things are only unreal shadows. 



DUCHESS 

Death, 
Why do you tarry, get to the upper chamber ; 
The cold meats of my husband's funeral feast 
Are set for you; this is a wedding feast. 
You are out of place, sir; and, besides, 'tis 

summer. 
We do not need these heavy fires now, 
You scorch us. [Guido, bid that grave-digger 
Stop digging in the earth that empty grave. 
I will not lie there.] Oh, I am burned up, 
[Burned up and blasted by these fires within 

me.] 

207 



THE DUCHESS OF PADUA 

act v. Can you do nothing? Water, give me water, 
Or else more poison. No : I feel no pain — 
Is it not curious I should feel no pain? — 
And Death has gone away, I am glad of 

that. 
I thought he meant to part us. Tell me, Guido, 
Are you not sorry that you ever saw me ? 



GUIDO 

I swear I would not have lived otherwise. 
Why, in this dull and common world of ours 
Men have died looking for such moments as 

this 
And have not found them. 



DUCHESS 

Then you are not sorry? 
How strange that seems. 



GUIDO 

What, Beatrice, have I not 
Stood face to face with beauty; that is enough 
For one man's life. Why, love, I could be 

' merry ; 
I have been often sadder at a feast, 
But who were sad at such a feast as this 
208 



THE DUCHESS OF PADUA 

When Love and Death are both our cup- mjtv 

bearers ; 
We love and die together. 



DUCHESS 

Oh, I have been 
Guilty beyond all women, and indeed 
Beyond all women punished. Do you think — 
No, that could not be — Oh, do you think that 

love 
Can wipe the bloody stain from off my hands, 
Pour balm into my wounds, heal up my hurts, 
And wash my scarlet sins as white as snow? — 
For I have sinned. 



GUIDO 

They do not sin at all 
Who sin for love. 



DUCHESS 

No, I have sinned, and yet 
Perchance my sin will be forgiven me. 
I have loved much. 

{They kiss each other now for the first time 
in this Act, when suddenly the duchess 
leaps up in the dreadful spasm of death, 
tears in agony at her dress, and finally 

209 



THE DUCHESS OF PADUA 

Ad? V, with face twisted and distorted with 

pain, falls back dead in a chair, guido 
seizing her dagger from her belt, kills 
himself; and, as he falls across her knees, 
clutches at the cloak which is on the back 
of the chair, and throws it entirely over 
her. There is a little pause. Then 
down the passage comes the tramp of 
Soldiers; the door is opened, and the 
lord justice, the Headsman, and the 
Guard enter and see this figure shrouded 
in black, and guido lying dead across 
her. The lord justice rushes forward 
and drags the cloak off the duchess 
whose face is now the marble image of 
peace, the sign of God's forgiveness.) 



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